101–110 of 291 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fox had a reality shoe where they just tortured people for money. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitary_(TV_series)
and only for the chance of winning $50k
I think a high payout could push some people to significant psychological harm.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There used to be a website where someone gave homeless people money to fight each other. Perhaps it still exists. Is that ethical?
I thought of bumfights when writing this, and decided that no, it's not ethical, because homeless people often suffer from mental illnesses which violates one of the assumptions that I laid out.
Is that ethical, because it's a rational cost-benefit analysis?
There are few people in the US who don't have enough to eat to fuel their bodies, but in other countries there are more. I am not trying to describe the particular people in "bumfights", who I don't know, but hypothetically working the boundaries of this analysis.
I also don't in fact think that people can be divided, in binary fashion, into those who are "rational" and "not rational".
It seems pretty clear to me that enticing desperate people to fight each other, for the entertainment of others who find their desperation emotionally engaging, and for the profit of the promoters -- is unkind and disrespectful and an attack on their dignity. Even if they are not "mentally ill." It seems hard to argue otherwise. Is it how you would treat a relative or friend? To hypothetically say, well, sure it's unkind and disrespectful and an assault on their dignity, and I wouldn't do it to someone I loved, but it's not unethical to do to make a buck or a laugh -- what is the point of "ethics", then, exactly?
>Their strict standards resulted in content that was homogeneous and boring, but safe. It’s terrifying that a man spent one hundred days in a small circle in an empty field. This isn't terrifying. People do much worse for 100x less. Prostitution and porn, for example, many times drive people to suicide. People stay on ships for months at a time without seeing their family, not too long ago, sailors would go years on…
Why is it childish to want a life in which you don’t need to labor to have everything you need to be happy? It’s childish to think that human beings are born worthy of a happy peaceful safe life? Why do we need to earn those things? Are they not inherent within us?
This feels very doom and gloom. Mr Beast gets to make the videos he wants, viewers get to watch amazing videos and people who are featured in the videos generally get paid. Everyone wins. Most of his videos are basically excuses to give people money and you rarely see participants not having a good time. Having the guy sit around for 100d is the most 'exploitative' video I've seen, but that really doesn't seem like t…
This feels very doom and gloom. Mr Beast gets to make the videos he wants, viewers get to watch amazing videos and people who are featured in the videos generally get paid. Everyone wins. Most of his videos are basically excuses to give people money and you rarely see participants not having a good time. Having the guy sit around for 100d is the most 'exploitative' video I've seen, but that really doesn't seem like t…
This blogger is acting like traditional network television has never mentally tortured people for our viewing pleasure. Have they never seen an episode of Hell's Kitchen, Dr Phil, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here or Big Brother? Basically the entire reality TV genre is based on that premise. Edit: Seeing as they mention Joe Rogan, Fear Factor is another great example of a reality TV version of basically the same th…
>Their strict standards resulted in content that was homogeneous and boring, but safe. It’s terrifying that a man spent one hundred days in a small circle in an empty field. This isn't terrifying. People do much worse for 100x less. Prostitution and porn, for example, many times drive people to suicide. People stay on ships for months at a time without seeing their family, not too long ago, sailors would go years on…
The author seemed to deliberately avoid making value judgements of this sort until it compared to traditional reality media where there are more guardrails built in. Otherwise Just about the only editorializing there is the author’s speculation about Mr. Beat’s motives, that they are driven by a an extreme focus on creating desirably content for his audience.
>Their strict standards resulted in content that was homogeneous and boring, but safe. It’s terrifying that a man spent one hundred days in a small circle in an empty field. This isn't terrifying. People do much worse for 100x less. Prostitution and porn, for example, many times drive people to suicide. People stay on ships for months at a time without seeing their family, not too long ago, sailors would go years on…
This blogger is acting like traditional network television has never mentally tortured people for our viewing pleasure. Have they never seen an episode of Hell's Kitchen, Dr Phil, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here or Big Brother? Basically the entire reality TV genre is based on that premise. Edit: Seeing as they mention Joe Rogan, Fear Factor is another great example of a reality TV version of basically the same th…
> "Whenever I watch these videos I’m awed and scared at the lengths to which humans in the twenty-first century will go to slurp up the drips of unimaginable wealth that the algorithm leaks out through Mr. Beast." That's it, isn't it? It's the exact opposite of dignity of labour: it's compensation for degradation. The "voluntary" part is just highlighting how willing people are to trade in unnecessary misery for the…
So it's not certain this is the "exact opposite" of labor; maybe it's its ulterior incarnation.