Live data from Hacker News

How fateful?

chan.co.za

181–190 of 343 posts

Re: How fateful?

#181
post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no promos in maintaining the dystopian nightmare program so it will be replaced by new dystopian nightmare programs that do the same thing but worse every 2-3 years. Eventually, enough dystopian nightmare programs will be running in parallel that they will actually create a utopia due to unexpected interactions between the dystopian nightmare programs.

Knowing google they'd have 6 competing dystopian nightmare programs running concurrently. All would have similar names.

Dystopio is signing off. Find your favorite features in the new Apocalypse Wow!

Re: How fateful?

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took the pragmatic approach and said to myself "look, if Google really wants to know where I am the only way to avoid it is to go into the woods without my phone, so why not?" Then one day the Toronto Transit Commission police thought I was re-using someone elses streetcar fare because of how old it was. I just prefer the streetcar to subways, so I took a longer route. As soon as I pulled out my phone with my locat…

That's because you haven't been the victim of fabricated narratives supported by your tracked locations as data in order to imprison or blackmail you. This is just a rehashed "if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about". Thank you to the other commenter for pointing out the banality of the "crime".

Thoughts on logging your own location with free software instead of Google doing it?

Re: How fateful?

#183
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's some Black Mirror level dystopia there, and totally within the realm of possibility, if it isn't already happening. Sync that up with Apple Watch 8's ability to estimate ovulation, and poof, declining birth rate problem solved! I'm scared.

It's not much scarier than encouraging fertility via the religious apparatus or just traditional social norms

Exactly. If your entire right hemisphere is permanently shut down from making computers the core of your identity, these are exactly the same thing.

Re: How fateful?

#184

Fun fact: whatever you can do with this data, Google can do as well!

While she likely got permission, having your girlfriend request all your location data is a bit like Zuckerberg requeating all your location data. On some level alarm bells are going off.

This depends a lot on your SO and your relationship to her/him/them. Given exactly the pretext from the blog post: I can easily think of a past relationship where I'd totally agree with you (very distrustful person who could not have resisted the urge to maliciously interpreted the data), and another relationship where I'd be totally cool with it (except I wouldn't want the heat map to be public). For most of my past relationships (and my current, final relationship) however such a request is unrealistic anyway; they simply don't have the technical ability to do such an analysis.

Re: How fateful?

#185

Plot Twist: When google's algorithms decided those two individuals should pair, it started showing them ads for the same events in order to increase the probability of them meeting. The goal was achieved by the system in 3 months, exactly as predicted with a 99% probability with a 95% CI. The system's next goal is to subtly nudge the couple to reproduce within the next year in order to help google meet their user acc…

No post body was provided.

Re: How fateful?

#186
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We get it, Google has access to the data you share with them, shocking.

The interesting aspect of that, is what Google and other authorities do with such data. They can be unlocking all sorts of private trivia, unbeknown to any of the users involved, to an extent far beyond any are suspecting. That could include such authorities, manipulating or interfering with events and lives, more than anybody would think possible or should be legally allowed.

> manipulating or interfering with events

What might be a good example?

Re: How fateful?

#187

Plot Twist: When google's algorithms decided those two individuals should pair, it started showing them ads for the same events in order to increase the probability of them meeting. The goal was achieved by the system in 3 months, exactly as predicted with a 99% probability with a 95% CI. The system's next goal is to subtly nudge the couple to reproduce within the next year in order to help google meet their user acc…

It's a funny "joke" but for a large percentage of people, their college decision and entrance exams were the determining factor in who they married; where you put yourself has a huge effect on whom you meet.

Re: How fateful?

#188

I was reluctant to mention this kind of story in such a sweet context but a few comments have already touched on privacy, so I want to add my two cents. At some point in the past I had the surreal experience of opening a news website and seeing a familiar face on the front page. Not a celebrity, rather a man whose face had been in some small subfolder of my brain for several years. The man had been convicted of seria…

I took the pragmatic approach and said to myself "look, if Google really wants to know where I am the only way to avoid it is to go into the woods without my phone, so why not?" Then one day the Toronto Transit Commission police thought I was re-using someone elses streetcar fare because of how old it was. I just prefer the streetcar to subways, so I took a longer route. As soon as I pulled out my phone with my locat…

The downside is, the government have 0 business knowing where I am, or where I go. I don't need to justify my right for privacy. And the argument of "if you are innocent, you have nothing to fear" is lame, and toxic, that is like saying, you don't drive that much, is ok to force you to take the bus.

Re: How fateful?

#189

When my wife and I combined our photo libraries later in life, we found a photo of the two of us, back-to-back at a ball a few years before we first met.

Aww so sweet. I love stories like this. My wife and I met by chance in Seattle in 2014, having grown up on different coasts, but there was a period in the 1980's where we lived <50 miles apart and I always wonder whether we ever met by chance as kids. That's so amazing you found that photo. We will have to combine photo albums like you and see what we learn.

Re: How fateful?

#190

Plot Twist: When google's algorithms decided those two individuals should pair, it started showing them ads for the same events in order to increase the probability of them meeting. The goal was achieved by the system in 3 months, exactly as predicted with a 99% probability with a 95% CI. The system's next goal is to subtly nudge the couple to reproduce within the next year in order to help google meet their user acc…

That reminds me of the GCU Arbitrary from the Culture novella The State of the Art - which liked to matchmake its crew members.
Post reply on HN