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Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

sciencemag.org

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Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#221

Post by mindslight »

XorNot wrote: post #188
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't need anything else, it does.

Then how do you have all that money? And where are you keeping it? (1) Earning that money is still growing the economy, and (2) even a zero-interest bank account is growing the economy (you're just not seeing any remuneration for your part in that) - and (3) even if you took the money home and destroyed it, since you're still working, you're providing a very useful deflationary function since it means someone else ca…

Eventually you work less so you never earn that money in the first place. This may involve saving up first so you have more economic bargaining power, or it may involve collective action to reduce working hours across the board.

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#223

Post by JohnWhigham »

fogihujy wrote: post #4

Another data point confirming that the advertising industry is actively hostile towards consumers.

Nah, it's worse than that. Bringing morality into it would actually be better; it'd be easier to understand and rally against if companies were doing this because they were "evil". But they aren't, they're just greedy and want money.

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#224

Post by XorNot »

InvertedRhodium wrote: post #205
XorNot wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then how do you have all that money? And where are you keeping it? (1) Earning that money is still growing the economy, and (2) even a zero-interest bank account is growing the economy (you're just not seeing any remuneration for your part in that) - and (3) even if you took the money home and destroyed it, since you're still working, you're providing a very useful deflationary function since it means someone else ca…

What if I just take it home and keep it?

It's identical to if you destroyed it. It just adds some risk that you might suddenly mobilize it (hence one of the reasons it's actually illegal for individuals to store large amounts of physical cash for long durations).

Also irrelevant anyway from point 1: you're still working to make money, thus you're growing the economy.

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#225

Post by JohnWhigham »

dash2 wrote: post #74

Calm down, Adam Curtis. I see zero evidence here that researchers can in fact implant anything in someone's dreams. Well, except by playing 3 hours of Tetris. The video "documenting" Coors' effort is a joke ad by Coors bemoaning the fact they can't get into the Superbowl. This is just a bunch of shady researchers trying to gin up some publicity for the !!!!terrifying power!!!! of their work (p = 0.048, one-tailed).

There were people like you 20 years ago that dismissed how absurd it would be that people would willingly buy company microphones connected to the Internet and put them in their houses.

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#226

Post by XorNot »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #217
XorNot wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, this is not what economic growth is. Any efficiency improvement, any self-improvement, anything, is economic growth. If you don't have economic growth, then tomorrow cannot be better then today. But that is a very different question to "should we cut down more rainforest?" You've got the cause and effect backwards, and it's exactly what lobbyists for the problem areas want: arguing against economic growth is p…

> If you don't have economic growth, then tomorrow cannot be better then today. Untrue, just look at Europe before and after the Bubonic Plague. You see massive economic collapse, but people are better off. Well, the people who are still alive are better off.

They were better off because demand recovered in the aftermath - i.e. there was economic growth.

If there wasn't, then worker conditions would not have improved because there would not be more demand for goods then there was workers to make them.

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#227

Post by walleeee »

streamofdigits wrote: post #161
walleeee wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starvation has not been a production issue in a long time. It's a geopolitical distribution issue.

its all linked. you can't just gift stuff without destroying much of economic organization and ownership concepts etc. you can't get local production going without owning the problem of corrupt local elites (which most likely you educated in your own image) etc...

You're right, it's a complex web of incentives, power (im)balances, sociopolitical inertia, legalisms, etc

Nonetheless the fact remains that we have consistently produced more than enough food for everybody for half a century and so far have refused or failed to distribute it equitably

This is an observation, not a value judgment, I don't have an answer to the question "could it be any other way"

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#228

Post by weugek »

FranchuFranchu wrote: post #128
dcolkitt wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube Premium is only $12/month. People act like it’s crazy to spend the price of an appetizer on an entertainment platform that they use tens of hours a month.

12USD is out of reach in many countries.

They adapt pricing, just like steam, spotify and others. I live in russia and only pay 4USD for the family plan

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#229

Post by amelius »

enigami wrote: post #100
foxes wrote: post #67

Horrific. If anyone on HN uses or works with adtech you should think about the consequences of what you are building. It's only ever gotten worse. You have a social obligation to stop.

Aren't we all part of some problem one way or the other. You could make the same point to a Programmer in the Banking Industry who is unaware that he is literally creating a predatory interest calculation for a debt scheme by writing code.

The difference is that the banking industry programmer is still unaware about their wrong-doings.

The article is there to raise awareness about the problems in the advertising industry, and one effect is that no one can claim they didn't know.

Re: Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads

#230

Post by Kim_Bruning »

toxik wrote: post #38
DocTomoe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids want to emulate what they see, especially in "fun" entertainment. My grandfather wanted to become a circus clown. My dad talked about western-style indigenous Americans. My He-Man/GI-Joe-drenched childhood was filled with dreams of becoming a warrior/soldier. And today the heroes of "fun" entertainment are YouTubers and Twitch streamers. The permeation you experience has been happening for a long time, only now…

I absolutely never go around pretending like I'm narrating a movie, no siree, not me.

"In a woooorld, where EVERYone watches movies, one person is narrating their own life. This june: one person, one hn, one narration. Toxik!"
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