This company should be call heroin. And they all should go to jail 30 years for dealing with addictive substances.
Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
71–80 of 145 posts
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#72So some positive feedback gets an app more attention - I get that, apps than infantilize their users are getting popular. But does it really have to be presented at precise intervals, calculated by a clever algorithm made by neuro-scientist? I doubt the impact will differ when triggered at slightly sanitized random intervals instead.
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#73I guess now I need to take break from Hackernews!
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#74There was a great Dilbert comic that said ~ ‘If marketing we’re only slightly more effective it would be illegal.’ I am aware of 1960’s era laws against subliminal advertising. Are there any enforcible laws that limit how people are influenced with media and technology?
More questions: If there is a technical definition of illegal influence, what would be the test of legality work? Would would enforce it? Who would be in violation of those laws today? Are any of the archaic laws about advertising/mind control that could be applied to today’s tech/media/security firms?
Finally, in a hypothetical scenario where a state actor was able to influence the mentally fragile into turning into mass shooters, how would nations and individuals start to protect themselves against such attacks?
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#75Alright, so that guys has the guts to say “It’s our job to make sure that everyone gets treated as a human, not as an object.”.
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Assuming this is being sold to companies other than strictly self-improvement apps, how can you consider this to be an ethical thing to have created?
Hi! Because we don't sell to apps that would hurt people. See manifesto on usedopamine.com/team/index.html. ~100 years ago, the most frequent causes of death in the US were pathogens for which we barely had a name. Pnemonia, Flu, Cholera, Fevers. And it was only after we developed a rigorous technology of the body (modern medicine) did we lift millions of people out of suffering simultaneously. Today, if you are unde…
How can we trust you not to sell apps that hurt people? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Note that you're using the word 'addiction'. Many would argue that is hurting in and of itself - regardless of what one would be addicted to.
And that last paragraph is absolutely haunting. We need companies controlling our minds because our brainstem isn't evolved enough??
I hope you get sued into the ground. It's time to start holding people accountable for their effect on our peoples brains.
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#77"if a technology like Dopamine can actually encourage retention on apps aimed at self-improvement, that’s an inarguably good thing." No, it absolutely is not. Some of most horrifying abuses in the history of the human race have occurred under the guise of "improving" other people for their own good.
The men and women who write your software control the boundary conditions for your experiences there. They control what and how you can think, feel, and believe in that experience. When Twitter doubles the numbers of characters you can tweet, they're making a decision about the quality and size of thoughts people can express - and in turn what depth of dialogue we have there. Analogously, when someone designs a diet…
You can't trust people to make that decision themselves. If you keep an app close because of the skinner-esque variable reward ratio I'd argue that's not a conscious choice.
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#78Everyone is over hyping this. It's a silly company that drives engagement by inserting short gifs after user actions.
It has an edgy sounding name and just enough marketing buzz to scare you.
This company is not around in 5 years. Good UX > whatever they are selling.
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Happy to answer any questions you have! It's all of our job to be transparent about the new tablestakes of design, because that transparency builds exact dialogues like this! It would be more audacious if we didn't publicize what we're doing and these techniques remained the dark patterns that keep people hooked to social apps that have poor alignment to what people actually want out of life!
This is how I understand what you're saying: We are building something evil and reprehensible, but we are open about what we are building, and therefore we are better than the other guys who are doing it surreptitiously. Fine, but in that case your product is basically performance art. Bravo, you did a good job raising awareness: now go actually work on fixing the problem instead of pretending like you aren't part of…
Making games more addictive is not really all that "evil" or "reprehensible". It's not much different from making them more fun.
What does need work is their messaging. Suggesting they can control users does not sit well. Instead, they could suggest they make games so much more fun, users boost in-game time.
They need a lesson on marketing and messaging, the idea itself is fine.
Re: Dopamine: An AI platform for designing human behavior
#80will see. People now are really crazy about phones