Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

Post by avs733 » Wed, Jun 16, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

enigami wrote: post #100

foxes wrote: post #67

Horrific. If anyone on HN uses or works with adtech you should think about the consequences of what you are building. It's only ever gotten worse. You have a social obligation to stop.

Aren't we all part of some problem one way or the other. You could make the same point to a Programmer in the Banking Industry who is unaware that he is literally creating a predatory interest calculation for a debt scheme by writing code.

Post by XorNot » Wed, Jun 16, 2021, 3:08 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #221

XorNot wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then how do you have all that money? And where are you keeping it? (1) Earning that money is still growing the economy, and (2) even a zero-interest bank account is growing the economy (you're just not seeing any remuneration for your part in that) - and (3) even if you took the money home and destroyed it, since you're still working, you're providing a very useful deflationary function since it means someone else ca…

Eventually you work less so you never earn that money in the first place. This may involve saving up first so you have more economic bargaining power, or it may involve collective action to reduce working hours across the board.

Post by XorNot » Wed, Jun 16, 2021, 3:11 PM UTC

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #183

XorNot wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, this is not what economic growth is. Any efficiency improvement, any self-improvement, anything, is economic growth. If you don't have economic growth, then tomorrow cannot be better then today. But that is a very different question to "should we cut down more rainforest?" You've got the cause and effect backwards, and it's exactly what lobbyists for the problem areas want: arguing against economic growth is p…

But people wouldn't be cutting down the rainforest if they weren't rewarded for it. If we patch each problem as it comes along, we're spending a lot of political will on the problem.

Post by tomjen3 » Wed, Jun 16, 2021, 3:14 PM UTC

skummetmaelk wrote: post #108

filchermcurr wrote: post #59

On the bright side, smart speakers aren't even a little bit essential, so it's easy enough to just not buy them if this starts happening. I don't think the value proposition of an always-on device connected to a vast advertising network is very high to begin with. Throw in subliminal advertising and you'd have to be very... dedicated... to want such a device. If it succeeds even a little, though, they'll bake it into…

You underestimate what people will sacrifice in order to be able to say "Alexa, what's the weather like today" rather than pull out their phone and open the weather app which is probably faster to do anyway. "But what if I have my hands full with stuff" they'll say. Well, will you really be able to remember what Alexa says about the weather if you're busy doing other stuff anyway? All everyone can ever point out as a…

Post by handrous » Wed, Jun 16, 2021, 3:18 PM UTC

kadoban wrote: post #201

hangonhn wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never appreciated Futurama when I was younger. At the time it felt like worse Simpsons but in the future. But later on I realized it’s a really good critique of our contemporary society disguised as the future looking back on us with Fry standing in for the audience. Some of the jokes are funny because they’re so biting.

A _lot_ of sci-fi in general is social commentary and/or recreational sociology. By moving the setting to an unfamiliar one, you can make parallels to back to _familiar_ societies in a way that allows the audience to see them with a new eye. It's a nice trick to get around familiarity blindness and sidestep some biases.