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Are we the baddies?

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Re: Are we the baddies?

#161

Post by somedude895 »

praptak wrote: post #85
afiodorov wrote: post #13

We should not underestimate the timeless human response to being manipulated: disengagement. This isn't theoretical, it's happening right now. The boom in digital detoxes, the dumbphone revival among young people, the shift from public feeds to private DMs, and the "Do Not Disturb" generation are all symptoms of the same thing. People are feeling the manipulation and are choosing to opt out, one notification at a tim…

You cannot disengage from capitalism. The tricks you describe are perhaps useful to not be the slowest antelope in the herd but that doesn't mean you are fully free from being exploited.

The most exploitative and unfree societies are and always have been the ones that rejected the free market.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#162

Post by diggan »

cedws wrote: post #21
csours wrote: post #11

Before you pay for boosts on a dating app, pay for good pictures. Here is what a man seeking woman profile needs: 1. Good Pictures. Honest. Good lighting. Appropriate grooming and attire (whatever than means in your social context). Smile in a carefree way in most of the pictures. 2. Attractive man in the pictures. 3. No icks. Yes the pictures are more important than being attractive. As a matter of storytelling, the…

Or just stop playing the game. Like a parasite, dating apps only survive while their host is alive. You can pay for pictures, spend hours a day scrolling, pretend to be someone you’re not, blunt every aspect of your personality that may be an “ick.”Maybe you’ll eventually win if you keep pulling the lever. But then you’ve just contributed to the problem. It’s just not worth it in my view. I gave up. Being a singleton…

> pretend to be someone you’re not, blunt every aspect of your personality that may be an “ick.”

You don't have to "pretend" to do anything, or try to get rid of what others consider "icky", but generally I think most people aim to at least be neutral (if not pleasant) in the eyes of others, either by social pressure or because life just gets easier and less frustrating then.

I'd probably wager that the whole pretending thing you think is required, actually backfires as people eventually learn who you are, so better to just be yourself upfront.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#163

Post by pjerem »

afiodorov wrote: post #101
praptak wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot disengage from capitalism. The tricks you describe are perhaps useful to not be the slowest antelope in the herd but that doesn't mean you are fully free from being exploited.

Let's be clear: it's entirely possible to leave the "herd". People can and do go completely off-grid and thus disengage from capitalism. The crucial point is that the vast majority of us choose not to. That choice is what makes your "slowest antelope" analogy so much more complex. An antelope's greatest desire is to be in the herd, because while it may contain a lion, the world outside contains a thousand wolves. We'…

In essence, the lion is the monopolies and the ultra rich (who are consequences of monopolies … and inheritance).

Sure capitalism offered us the herd. But too big companies/people are just a net negative.

I hope someone today will have the courage to dismantle those big actors. Except, at least in the US, they now are protected by fascism.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#164

Post by diggan »

seydor wrote: post #66
protocolture wrote: post #46

>But eventually the market will fix this, right? People will feel sick of being manipulated and move elsewhere? You can literally go outside and talk to people. There's no moat around dating apps. Human beings continue to exist in meatspace. I am yet to see a dating app contract that prevents you from being casually approached by strangers. Heck matchmakers still exist.

> You can literally go outside and talk to people. You can't . If you talk to modern city people the way you casually said 'hi' to strangers in the 90s , at best you 'll end up in a tiktok branded as a creepy person

> You can't . If you talk to modern city people the way you casually said 'hi' to strangers in the 90s

It is true, in some places, that talking to strangers are generally frowned upon without having a good reason to do so.

The trick is to either only open up the conversation when you have something relevant to say (or funny, seems to work sometimes too), or move to city/country where it's socially accepted.

As someone who used to live in a country where talking with strangers is basically implicitly forbidden and straight up weird, but then moved to a country where it's completely normal, the amount of interesting conversations easily skyrocketed as soon as I landed in my new home country.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#165

Post by cjfd »

cortesoft wrote: post #81
ggm wrote: post #2

For some people, paying the premium to jump the queue is the point. What they didn't forsee is what happens when everyone has wound up paying the premium, and the queue is now with you again. This is mostly Australian frequent flyers, when it was a high barrier to entry it conferred advantages and now Fly in Fly out work has commoditised club status, there is next to no boarding advantage, and no points flight availa…

> What they didn't forsee is what happens when everyone has wound up paying the premium, and the queue is now with you again Wouldn't the market purist argue that this just means the good is mispriced, and tickets should actually be what the price is with the premium added? What you really need is to just raise the prices of the tickets and the price to jump the queue?

For market purism to work people need to have an idea what they are paying for. If this is changing too quickly or there is personalized pricing it becomes a very different kind of game.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#166

Post by poorlyknit »

mhog_hn wrote: post #138

What meta structure allows us to get rid of rent seeking behavior? I don’t have an answer - is there scientific research on this? Taxation? Loopholes will be found. Lawfare against it? Lobbying will win. I am amazed by capitalism, but at the same time it is a ruthless machine - and in democratic countries it is highly unlikely that a single political party can force the machine into a new direction. Perhaps that is a…

What can we do to make rent-seeking hurt society less? Imo we should start by decoupling money from power. Right now, people are forced to participate in the rent-seekers game because his wealth implies power over them.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#167

Post by jksflkjl3jk3 »

jlokier wrote: post #155
anonzzzies wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is next to no boarding advantage Especially on the discounters here in EU (especially Ryanair / Easyjet), i'm the only one in the non-priority queue, everyone else is in the priority queue. This used to of course not be the case; you paid extra and was in first. Now i'm usually in before 2/3th of the prio queue. Which is just weird. > about surge pricing. I got boiled slowly. Not sure how it is in the US (I u…

> Taxis are almost always twice or sometimes (airport) 3x the price. Not where I live. Here, Uber is 50-100% more* than the price of a local taxi, at all times of day. Uber is also at least 30% more expensive than hailing a black cab. So even though I have the app, after optimistically checking the Uber price, I invariably choose to book a taxi instead. The shorter arrival times shown in the Uber app are sometimes te…

> Not where I live

I never understand why people make comments like this and leave it to the reader to guess where they live. Your profile has your email and linkedin, so it's not like you're trying to stay anonymous.

And to your point, local taxis being less expensive is unusual in my travels from 50+ countries. Uber/Grab/Bolt/Gojeck/Maxim are almost always significantly cheaper and more reliable in my experience, especially for foreigners who aren't familiar with typical fares.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#168

Post by poorlyknit »

palmfacehn wrote: post #12
bigyabai wrote: post #4

> It’s not okay. Advertising is not okay. Price discrimination is not okay. Using big data, machine learning, and psychology to manipulate others at scale is not okay. Stop participating. Hinge is towards the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you'll do just fine without it.

Collectivists generally start from premises which discount or even dismiss individual agency.

This is a cheap overgeneralization.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#169

Post by FridgeSeal »

taneq wrote: post #122
ggm wrote: post #2

For some people, paying the premium to jump the queue is the point. What they didn't forsee is what happens when everyone has wound up paying the premium, and the queue is now with you again. This is mostly Australian frequent flyers, when it was a high barrier to entry it conferred advantages and now Fly in Fly out work has commoditised club status, there is next to no boarding advantage, and no points flight availa…

> now Fly in Fly out work has commoditised club status, there is next to no boarding advantage Why would you want to be on the plane earlier than necessary? Only thing I can think of is better access to the overhead lockers, which fill up fast these days.

Less so the early boarding, but the priority baggage is nice, especially after long international flights.

Getting on the flight 15 minutes early also beats dawdling in a slow moving like for 20.

Lounge access is worth it alone! Especially on international connections!!

Re: Are we the baddies?

#170

Post by jksflkjl3jk3 »

nlitened wrote: post #82
vasco wrote: post #67

Nothing will make a nerd a communist faster than getting a taste of real life on dating apps.

How would communism help with that? Make women common property?

I suppose if all men made the same salary that would level the playing field to some degree.
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