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Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

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Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#171

Post by pjc50 »

cryptonector wrote: post #156
mrguyorama wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally view small groups of people having such large amounts of power to be undemocratic, whether they be the Koch brothers, or Soros. I may support the same causes he funds and supports, but I'd like it if people like him funding government choices was not possible

Why? Via freedom of association we all can (and do!) pool our money very well, and we have more money altogether than the Soroses and Koches of the world.

The ""1%"" have more than half the world wealth: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/14/worlds-ri...

This is becoming an increasingly serious problem, that contributions from the general public don't outspend rich people who are keen to push an idea.

http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2017/11/19/the-theory-of-th...

(and http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2018/01/26/pro-market-pro-b... )

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#173

Post by reaperducer »

quadrangle wrote: post #125
kbenson wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you press people (like in person, not on the internet) why they think he's the devil incarnate, you usually get some really wild ad hominem not rooted in reality or a realization that they don't really know why they hate him so much other than he's a benefactor of their political opposition and they were told to. Sure, but we could probably say the same of the Koch brothers. They both occupy similar positions…

The Kochs are widely misunderstood. They are typically seen as effectively a free-money-pit for generic Republican views that promote Capitalist exploitation, laying waste to the environment, and destroying any real grassroots movement to bring democratic power to the people. From my understanding, the reality is more like: The Kochs are typical dogmatic Libertarians who aren't anti-environment but have this simplist…

Half of the science-heave PBS shows that are such a favorite of the SV crowd wouldn't be possible without Koch donations.

So even if the Kochs really do end up killing all of the polar bears, it'll be well documented on TV.

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#174

Post by heurist »

InternetUser wrote: post #127
jordigh wrote: post #8

I'm rather bothered that I know nothing about Soros except a bunch of vague, negative feelings about him that have pop-culturally osmosed to me through constant usage of his name in 4channish/the_donaldish media. He's some kind of evil mastermind destroying civilisation with his vast wealth. I know this is almost certainly not true, but I'm so bothered that this is my immediate thought. I feel like the alt-right has…

What are 2 or 3 of the "4channish/the_donaldish" media outlets you are referring to, other than 4chan and The_Donald?

Breitbart, Fox, National Enquirer...?

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#175

Post by reaperducer »

justherefortart wrote: post #44
Slansitartop wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm rather bothered that I know nothing about Soros > He's some kind of evil mastermind destroying civilisation with his vast wealth. Those characterizations may have their origins in an element of truth, dating from the early 90s. Paul Krugman described his Soros's actions thusly: > [N]obody who has read a business magazine in the last few years can be unaware that these days there really are investors who not onl…

The principals of finance are the same for everyone. Just because the UK (like Mexico, Argentina, and most of SE Asia) decided to ignore the rules, doesn't make him a bad person. It makes him an intelligent investor. When you're screwing with monetary policy and most college kids (in finance and economics) know what you're doing will blow up in your face. To assume investors won't take advantage is not only naive but…

> It makes him an intelligent investor.

It makes him an amoral investor.

We need more rich people with morals, not those who use the letter of the law to destroy things and then claim they're not to blame because they played by the rules.

Because something is legal doesn't mean you should do it.

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#176

Post by marnett »

dao- wrote: post #98
Slansitartop wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The entire investment business (and not only that) is amoral. Guns are amoral too, but we still expect people to use them morally.

There are in fact laws for that. Soros' investments were perfectly legal from what I know. We could change this if we wanted to, Capitalism is a man-made system after all. Demonizing successful players is just pointless.

Free-flowing capital would be regulated by who? The World Government?

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#177

Post by lakechfoma »

Can someone explain why FB can't become a paid service that engineers itself for the good of users?

I don't know anything about corporate financing but naive napkin math says if their 2 billion user base pays $1/month they would be pulling $24 billion a year. Wikipedia says their revenue is $24b/year. Now if they removed their entire advertising aspect (the human labor, infrastructure) their operating costs would go down and that $24b/year would mean more than it does now.

Is that bad math? I would readily pay $1/month to use a service designed for our well being rather than advertisers. I think anyone would. Why isn't this a thing?

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#178

Post by mturmon »

jordigh wrote: post #8

I'm rather bothered that I know nothing about Soros except a bunch of vague, negative feelings about him that have pop-culturally osmosed to me through constant usage of his name in 4channish/the_donaldish media. He's some kind of evil mastermind destroying civilisation with his vast wealth. I know this is almost certainly not true, but I'm so bothered that this is my immediate thought. I feel like the alt-right has…

You might enjoy reading some of the articles by Soros from the NY Review. He has written a bunch over the years, generally about an integrated Europe - http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/george-soros/

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#179

Post by B1FF_PSUVM »

bornonline1 wrote: post #30
toastking wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also been experimentally proven that people have issues discerning fake news online. Our news literacy is falling rapidly. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/23/503129818...

I was under the assumption that our news literacy was never high enough to begin with. So to say "fall rapidly" seems misleading.

If anything, the last couple of years have been very enlightening.

Re: Facebook's Desperate Smoke Screen

#180

Post by wmeredith »

lakechfoma wrote: post #177

Can someone explain why FB can't become a paid service that engineers itself for the good of users? I don't know anything about corporate financing but naive napkin math says if their 2 billion user base pays $1/month they would be pulling $24 billion a year. Wikipedia says their revenue is $24b/year. Now if they removed their entire advertising aspect (the human labor, infrastructure) their operating costs would go…

The gulf between free and $1 is vast. Do not underestimate it. I'd be surprised if the could convert 10% of their current user base to paying customers at any price.
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