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Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

m.nautil.us

141–150 of 523 posts

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In London there are adverts on the steps I walk up on the underground. The busker spots are "sponsored". It's like the Clockwork Orange "aversion therapy" in terms of making you watch. I'm very aware of what the media is doing but it has to get through on some level. Much of advertising is telling you that you are incomplete and product x will complete you / cement friendships etc. Of course that is crap, but even ju…

First company that integrates something like Google glasses and adblock gets my money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI8AMRbqY6w

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may work well for you but there are somethings that cause you to have to check email and Facebook for fear of external consequences which is what the OP is saying. For example Hangouts makes me lose at least half a hour of productity a day but if I uninstalled it and never checked it then I would never talk to all of my friends on Hangouts which is not a trade-off that I am willing to take. Same for email, if I…

For example Hangouts makes me lose at least half a hour of productity a day but if I uninstalled it and never checked it then I would never talk to all of my friends on Hangouts which is not a trade-off that I am willing to take. A lot of people say this one (usually about Facebook), but I don't understand it. If you want to talk to those friends, why doesn't it suffice to schedule spending time with them in the same…

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Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#145
post #128
post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for thi…

I've done something similar with my Android phone, and it's worked out decently. One problem I encountered though - I spent a lot of time on Reddit, and would check it subconsciously, so I deleted it. Now I find that I'm using Google Now, the left swipe off the home screen. In effect I took the attention from Reddit and gave it to Google. I'm not convinced that was a worthwhile trade. Given I can't delete Google Now, maybe having Reddit on my phone was serving a purpose I didn't realize. Maybe there's an app that will minimize the subconscious attention blast radius. Something that I'll still check but will minimize the time I spend there.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#146
post #36
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The root of the issue is ... capitalism" FTFY. The structural issues mentioned in the original article are inherent in a free market economy. Democratic deployment of capital and technology would change the dynamic substantially. An alternate approach would be to have substantial regulation on speech by companies (aka advertising and propaganda), but even this would require major changes driven by the democratic pro…

So you're saying to fix the problem of you voluntarily surrendering your free will to distractions brought to you by profit-seeking entities, we need to take free will out of the equation by introducing a system where resources would be centrally allocated and there would be no free will involved in what is offered for you and what you could consume, thus no distractions - you always read the content that the People'…

Another stunning victory over the evil straw man that haunts out discussions.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#147
post #128
post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for thi…

> Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone

A middle ground is turning off badges and other notifications. Switching to a paper newspaper also helps.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#149
post #128
post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for thi…

This list is EXACTLY what I do and I'm pretty happy with it.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#150

> Modern Media is a DoS Attack on Your Free Will Being saturated by Modern Media is an exercise of Free Will. An attack is an act of force that requires active defense. The Modern Media is not forcing me to ready anything, nor do I have to actively defend myself against the Modern Media. If turning of your cell phone for a period seems like an unfathomable task to you, perhaps you didn't have that much Free Will in t…

If free will, as we understand it, is the ability to renounce things despite our brain injecting itself with endorphins while we're subjected to it, then you're right: it's quite nothing at all aside from having a strong constitution. The problem is we're talking about the manipulation of the brain's fundamental functions that undermine even low level thought processes (including determination).

It's scarcely different than brain washing, and I don't think you can just blame the individual on this, when these efforts are aimed at the peak of the bell curve. This is something that we have to resolve or risk forfeiting civil society.

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