4 ms·

That's the thing though. I reject the notion that you ever actually make a choice. I would posit that 100% of the actions you take are simply the deterministic

That's the thing though. I reject the notion that you ever actually make a choice. I would posit that 100% of the actions you take are simply the deterministic reactions when the current world state is filtered through your brain. Then, after the fact, your brain gets busy inventing a reason that you took a particular action and calls it a "choice" when really you were just going to do what you were going to do anyway. "I ordered this burger because I was hungry and it tastes good" vs "I ordered this burger because Google was able to successfully predict that I would be receptive to having burgers, or the idea of burgers, placed in my environment"

bbctol 10y ago
Sure, but philosophical musings on the nature of free will aside, there's a practical worry about the amount of power a private company has over your actions. I'd rather be ordering burgers because they taste good than because a company wanted me too--I expect this will lead to greater happiness for me in the long run.
- majewsky 10y ago
  Yes, but only because your happiness metric maximizes when you exercise your freedom of choice. Other people's happiness metrics work differently, and all popular web services are popular precisely because they satisfy the unconscious desires of the majority of people.
samastur 10y ago
In effect you argument is that we don't have free will, right? I wonder what is then causing inefficiency when we read restaurant's menu and can't decide what we will have. I'm with those who think we make choices and decisions far less often than we think, but that we still do make them.
- princeb 10y ago
  i am no longer intrigued by the privacy discussion but the actual possibility that we are just consciousnesses controlled by the google hivemind. this is like absolutely full on plugged into the matrix world. and we're living right in it. these guys are like the ones who've taken the red pill, and gone on to find out how far the rabbit hole is going. (edit: i'm even more intrigued by the possibility that the future is not just the matrix singularity, but an oligopoly of several large singularities, all fighting to plug us in)

bbctol 10y ago

Sure, but philosophical musings on the nature of free will aside, there's a practical worry about the amount of power a private company has over your actions. I'd rather be ordering burgers because they taste good than because a company wanted me too--I expect this will lead to greater happiness for me in the long run.

majewsky 10y ago
Yes, but only because your happiness metric maximizes when you exercise your freedom of choice. Other people's happiness metrics work differently, and all popular web services are popular precisely because they satisfy the unconscious desires of the majority of people.

samastur 10y ago

In effect you argument is that we don't have free will, right? I wonder what is then causing inefficiency when we read restaurant's menu and can't decide what we will have. I'm with those who think we make choices and decisions far less often than we think, but that we still do make them.

princeb 10y ago
i am no longer intrigued by the privacy discussion but the actual possibility that we are just consciousnesses controlled by the google hivemind. this is like absolutely full on plugged into the matrix world. and we're living right in it. these guys are like the ones who've taken the red pill, and gone on to find out how far the rabbit hole is going. (edit: i'm even more intrigued by the possibility that the future is not just the matrix singularity, but an oligopoly of several large singularities, all fighting to plug us in)