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“User engagement” is code for “addiction”

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Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#271

Post by bostonvaulter2 »

gary_bernhardt wrote: post #160
bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, that looks really neat! I have a couple minor pieces of feedback after looking at the homepage. The graphic for "Review Exponentially" [1] was a little difficult to grok initially. My first thought was that time was flowing downwards. I think a labeled arrow indicating the flow of time would be helpful, perhaps also a label to indicate that the numbers at the bottom represent days (instead of relying on me to und…

All good feedback, thanks! An upcoming landing rework will get the first two, and I added "separate sign-up list for new courses" to my queue.

Thanks!

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#272

Post by AnthonyMouse »

loveistheanswer wrote: post #157
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why we need to promote the existence of more and better alternatives. Because "if you don't like it, leave" doesn't work if there is nowhere else to go. But if there is, it does.

Perhaps we need a publicly funded, rather than corporate advertising funded social platform?

Or public funding for development of federated protocols and free software implementations.

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#274

Post by hammock »

teddyh wrote: post #198
carapace wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a family-run bakery near my house that specializes in cheesecakes. They make the best cheesecakes I've ever tasted. They only make a certain number (~200, say, I dunno really) per day, they always sell out, then they close for the day. Every year they take a two-month vacation. That's it. That's the whole business. Anthony Mangieri was downtown for a few years here in SF before he went back East. https://www.…

> sell out, then they close for the day. Every year they take a two-month vacation. What is stopping their landlord from raising the rent, since they obviously have money to spare?

Competition from other landlords

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#275

Post by hammock »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #223
Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Principles? Morals? Ethics? The small things preventing humanity from murdering, raping, enslaving, and torturing one another. It's easy to forget that these exist and that everyone must always be on guard, defending the world against ones own baser instincts and defending oneself against humanity at larges baser instincts. As we collectively forget, or consciously ignore, our duty to one another we mortgage humaniti…

Indeed. That's why I'm worried when I see interpersonal relations being replaced by market rules. Markets have no morals, principles and ethics by default, and generally consider these factors to be inefficiencies.

>Markets have no morals, principles and ethics by default

That's not exactly true. "Markets" are made of people, and the morals principles and ethics of each participant imbue any given market with certain characteristics. The market doesn't reflect the exact morals of one particular actor, but it is nevertheless a product of them. Think matrix multiplication.

For examples look at Roman civilization, Jewish civilization, the meeting of the two. Or look at the Wire.

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#276

Post by TeMPOraL »

hammock wrote: post #275
TeMPOraL wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. That's why I'm worried when I see interpersonal relations being replaced by market rules. Markets have no morals, principles and ethics by default, and generally consider these factors to be inefficiencies.

>Markets have no morals, principles and ethics by default That's not exactly true. "Markets" are made of people, and the morals principles and ethics of each participant imbue any given market with certain characteristics. The market doesn't reflect the exact morals of one particular actor, but it is nevertheless a product of them. Think matrix multiplication. For examples look at Roman civilization, Jewish civilizat…

I agree that "morals principles and ethics of each participant imbue any given market with certain characteristics". I was highlighting that these are incidental, not structural in the market. And my main point is: these characteristics are not stable. More than that, these characteristics are actively being diminished, ground down by the market - and that is a structural aspect.

This happens through competitive pressure. If, as a market player, do something slightly shady to get an edge, I'll get ahead and my competitors will either have to do the same, or risk losing. When enough market players go along, the slightly shady things becomes a baseline, "standard business practice", and morality on the market is that much eroded. Then someone else starts getting ahead on being even more shady, and the process repeats.

(Ironically, we often call this chipping away at ethics/morality "innovation".)

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