21–30 of 133 posts
What I struggle to understand is how could esteemed AI researchers like LeCun and many others work for such a company to give it even more powers and edge? How can they justify this as scientists? The huge influx of money into research (here AI, but could be anything in the future) combined with the disfunctions of academia is very troubling.
What I struggle to understand is how could esteemed AI researchers like LeCun and many others work for such a company to give it even more powers and edge? How can they justify this as scientists? The huge influx of money into research (here AI, but could be anything in the future) combined with the disfunctions of academia is very troubling.
I understand this is a manifesto, but really the dialogue around Facebook and social media has truly become unhinged. Facebook is just a symptom, it seems What is there to be _done_? Pandora's box is open, so to speak. If Facebook disappeared overnight, are we really going to assume the problems they're in are going to go away? Everyone is potentially connected to everyone, everywhere, on the entire planet. There has…
Most people would not take this; but rich people would. The top 1%? Top 5%? This would cripple the monopoly model and open the market.
Its curious that the media is going to such great lengths to paint Facebook as villians. My own Facebook stream is travel photos, people saying gushy things about their spouse, plus a few people still obsessed with Trump. Harmless stuff. Our lives must be pretty cushy when this is one of the biggest dangers that we face.
What I struggle to understand is how could esteemed AI researchers like LeCun and many others work for such a company to give it even more powers and edge? How can they justify this as scientists? The huge influx of money into research (here AI, but could be anything in the future) combined with the disfunctions of academia is very troubling.
We need an Operation Paperclip for Facebook talent.
I understand this is a manifesto, but really the dialogue around Facebook and social media has truly become unhinged. Facebook is just a symptom, it seems What is there to be _done_? Pandora's box is open, so to speak. If Facebook disappeared overnight, are we really going to assume the problems they're in are going to go away? Everyone is potentially connected to everyone, everywhere, on the entire planet. There has…
An online social networking platform could even take a total different format than one that invites users to upload all their real personal life information and photos; there could be a platform as one where the users are playing ficitonalized characters in a make-believe world, and there isn't the same severe data-mining and harvesting of users' minds and lives, let alone with clear algorithmic and editorial favoring of political-themed content; I'm thinking first of something like the The Sims from 2000 to 2015[0], but there is a now a certain game that has become the de-facto social network of pre-teens to early teens, and that is Fortnite Battle Royale - see these 2 articles from December 2018[1]-[5]. Yes, there are other risks and dangers with such a platform (where gamification is taken to a much further extent: you're playing much more of a character in a game than you are with the "character" you "play"--in the sense of "portray" and "direct" on Facebook)[6], but it's not, in my view, nearly as immoral and irresponsible as what Facebook does.
[0] Sims popularity, as recently as 2014, when the latest version of it was still the #1 computer game:
https://simscommunity.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Screen...
[1] Charged: Fortnite isn't a game, it's a place - As social media becomes ever more toxic, Fortnite has become the new social network and a place to hang out where you go to talk to friends
https://char.gd/blog/2018/fortnite-is-the-new-hangout-spot
[2] WSJ: How Fortnite Triggered an Unwinnable War Between Parents and Their Boys
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-fortnite-triggered-an-unwinn...
[3] See the selected tweets here, including: "Fortnite is the tween generation's Facebook (at least for boys). Spent a few hours last weekend with a friend's 12 YO, Fortnite is the platform for his entire social/academic life. FYI i was labeled an 'old noobie'."
https://www.techmeme.com/181222/p8#a181222p8
[4] The astonishing usership stats (scroll down to the list):
http://www.businessofapps.com/data/fortnite-statistics/
[5] Many more stats:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortnite_Battle_Royale#Player_...
[6] Impact:
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Science should be above this. Inspired by your comment, I'll make my point more graphically: Nazi camps were also suitable for medical and spychological testing. Nazi and even interned doctors did all sorts of experiments on prisoners. And if they refused to do so, pretty sure other people would have been happy to replace. Not everyone shared the same concerns regarding human life.
They were able to do a lot of beneficial research because they didn’t have to deal with cumbersome regulations and roadblocks. And if they didn’t do it, someone else would have lined up to take advantage of the opportunities. Edit: If it isn’t clear, I am being sarcastic.
Just the same way that if something wrong is done by a lot of people it doesn't make it right (smoking, drinking &c.).
I understand this is a manifesto, but really the dialogue around Facebook and social media has truly become unhinged. Facebook is just a symptom, it seems What is there to be _done_? Pandora's box is open, so to speak. If Facebook disappeared overnight, are we really going to assume the problems they're in are going to go away? Everyone is potentially connected to everyone, everywhere, on the entire planet. There has…
A $0.01 tax per ad impression.
Such a thing would not destroy the advertising industry, but it would do wonders for making it much less worthwhile to deploy massive surveillance technology to make .03 cents more per user per day, and leave only very high-value advertising behind. It would probably anti-decimate it or more, though (leave only 10% behind instead of destroying 10%).
$0.10 per impression if you're feeling feisty.
