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Spending Habits: Yes - you could easily observe what your village neighbors are buying. Websites Browsed/Media Prefs/Porn Habits: No, these things didnt exist

Spending Habits: Yes - you could easily observe what your village neighbors are buying. Websites Browsed/Media Prefs/Porn Habits: No, these things didnt exist for most of human history. I guess "Media Preferences" would be known if we're talking books vs. newspaper. Political views: Yes, assuming the person isn't a hermit. Location History: Yes, presumably you'd know where village-mates are/have been. Backed up in a database that's easily searchable? I guess that depends on how good your brain is at remembering things. Not trying to nitpick too hard, but all your viable examples listed are in fact things your fellow villagers would know about you in a close-knit community.

CaptSpify 10y ago
I'm going to highly disagree with you. Yeah, you might have a rough idea of spending habits for a handful of people, but not everyone, and not to the same detail. Books/newspapers/etc sure, you'd know some of it, but you wouldn't have a record of what they consumed in their home unless they told you. You might know some of their political views, but only the ones they share openly. If a co-villager wandered off for a week, you wouldn't likely have any idea where they went. You'd have to rely on what they told you, and where others said they went, which isn't necessarily accurate. Additionally, you wouldn't get the level of detail FB can. No brain is capable of storing even half of the location that FB's DB can. I don't care how good someone's memory is. They would know some of the above sure, but it'd be at a high level, and not nearly as accurate.
- ahartman00 10y ago
  You make some good points, but i have to slightly disagree with some of them :) "Yeah, you might have a rough idea of spending habits for a handful of people, but not everyone, and not to the same detail." The shopkeeper does. And as someone who grew up in a small town, the gossip is real. "ou might know some of their political views, but only the ones they share openly" Facebook doesnt know my political views? Though I dont openly share them on fb. More to avoid flamewars. "If a co-villager wandered off for a week, you wouldn't likely have any idea where they went" Depends how well you know them. You might know they like that spot by the lake for example. And if I leave my phone at home, no one would know where I went.(which sounds like a good reason to carry my phone, safety)
mcv 10y ago
There's a big difference between your neighbours knowing all your secrets, and Facebook knowing all your secrets. And I think which you find worse says something about you. People who care more about what the neighbours think, might consider the village having access to all their behaviour a bigger problem than some distant, faceless corporation. For people who care about power imbalance, a single corporation knowing everything about everybody is much more serious than people in villages knowing about their neighbours.

CaptSpify 10y ago

I'm going to highly disagree with you. Yeah, you might have a rough idea of spending habits for a handful of people, but not everyone, and not to the same detail. Books/newspapers/etc sure, you'd know some of it, but you wouldn't have a record of what they consumed in their home unless they told you. You might know some of their political views, but only the ones they share openly. If a co-villager wandered off for a week, you wouldn't likely have any idea where they went. You'd have to rely on what they told you, and where others said they went, which isn't necessarily accurate. Additionally, you wouldn't get the level of detail FB can. No brain is capable of storing even half of the location that FB's DB can. I don't care how good someone's memory is. They would know some of the above sure, but it'd be at a high level, and not nearly as accurate.

ahartman00 10y ago
You make some good points, but i have to slightly disagree with some of them :) "Yeah, you might have a rough idea of spending habits for a handful of people, but not everyone, and not to the same detail." The shopkeeper does. And as someone who grew up in a small town, the gossip is real. "ou might know some of their political views, but only the ones they share openly" Facebook doesnt know my political views? Though I dont openly share them on fb. More to avoid flamewars. "If a co-villager wandered off for a week, you wouldn't likely have any idea where they went" Depends how well you know them. You might know they like that spot by the lake for example. And if I leave my phone at home, no one would know where I went.(which sounds like a good reason to carry my phone, safety)

mcv 10y ago

There's a big difference between your neighbours knowing all your secrets, and Facebook knowing all your secrets. And I think which you find worse says something about you. People who care more about what the neighbours think, might consider the village having access to all their behaviour a bigger problem than some distant, faceless corporation. For people who care about power imbalance, a single corporation knowing everything about everybody is much more serious than people in villages knowing about their neighbours.