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Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

m.nautil.us

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Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#41

Post by api »

alexasmyths wrote: post #22
api wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't put it that way. The problem is that a ton of the stuff impinging on us is not knowledge. It's propaganda, fluff, stupid memes, click bait, and systems with interfaces designed to be addictive and to act like Skinner boxes. What I really see happening is a "part 2" repeat of the spam apocalypse that hit e-mail, Usenet, and other federated systems on the early Internet. In the late 1990s spam destroyed most…

This is an insightful comment and I can't understand the down-votes.

Criticizing the business model of social media?

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#42

Post by ryandrake »

Ironically, the first thing you're greeted with on this site is an attention-grabbing ad, if you choose to browse without protection.

If modern media a DoS attack, it's not very sophisticated since it can be easily avoided by non-participation. Install an Ad blocker. Browse the web in private mode. Turn off notifications. Treat everything you read with skepticism (assume it is trying to manipulate you). And never, ever interact with social media. Share your attention deliberately, mindfully, and voluntarily.

I don't buy into this victim mentality. Nobody is "stealing" my attention unless I agree to it.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#43

Post by auggierose »

tribune wrote: 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…

Don't check your work email on the go. Quit facebook. It is actually pretty simple!

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#44

Post by snerbles »

wffurr wrote: post #17
yosito wrote: post #9

As someone who works in tech, I like the analogy of a DoS attack. The root of the issue is attention capitalism. Our attention is essentially a resource being exploited for profit. In that scenario, we're effectivley no longer in control of our own free will as long as someone else can profit by controlling it. On an individual scale, we can give it relatively benign labels like "distraction". But when you look at it…

"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…

This has to be one of the most heavily-couched calls for Marxism I've seen all week.

"Democratic deployment" will still suffer from well-applied demagoguery, the people themselves are still prone to manipulation - even when their choices are abstracted away in a command economy.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#45

Post by mirimir »

alansammarone wrote: post #26
dmfdmf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In that scenario, we're effectively no longer in control of our own free will as long as someone else can profit by controlling it. This is a self contradiction. You always have the choice to turn off or tune out the distractions and focus your attention on more important things (which is the essence of free will). That people don't feel like doing that is a psychological problem not a problem with capitalism or pr…

Exactly. If you can't consciously choose to turn off your phone and go read a book, you never had anything that remotely resembles free will.

That's easy to say. But what if family, friends and work are so tied up with your phone that doing so would hurt too much? Sure, you can change your work and friends, and cut off your family, but that's hard.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#46

Post by ako »

genzoman wrote: post #35
wffurr wrote: 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…

I have no idea why so many people choose to give any government more and more power. This is similar to a cultural nuclear weapon. Maybe it will work in the right persons's hands for an agent of good, but really, over the course of time, is limiting what people can hear going to be a good thing for them? How can you tune your personal BS meter, if you never hear any BS? Who watches the watcher? There is no singular p…

Given free hand, corporations can be just as dangerous as governments. I don't know why you would trust corporations more, since their only goal is to make money.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#47

Post by ypeterholmes »

Blaming technology for our dysfunctional political system is all kinds of backwards. The political system is broken because of corruption within our financial/judicial/media institutions. If anything, technology is our best hope to fix those problems. For example, look at this discussion we are having right here.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#50

Post by aag »

shmageggy wrote: post #33

I would gladly pay for something like what is advocated for in this article, but I'm not aware of anything like it. A news publication that: * Has the goal of filtering rather than flooding * No ads * No pop-ins 3/4 of the way through the article telling me about four other articles I should read * No endless scrolling * Upfront about bias * Cites sources

I am a huge fan of Blendle, the news micropayments system, which meets the first four of these criteria. The last two depend on the underlying news organization.
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