5 ms·

Corporations don't force it on you. People voluntarily use that. Corporations provide those things because people want them.

mverwijs 10y ago
Advertisements target your lizard brain. That bypasses your rational thinking. It is not a fair fight and not merely "just say 'no'".
- E6300 10y ago
  That just sounds like a way to dodge responsibility.
  - hsitz 10y ago
    I wish it were merely a way to avoid taking personal responsibility. There's much more to it than that. Read "The Psychology of Influence" along with some of the stuff by, e.g, Kahneman and/or Tversky on behavioral economics and the various cognitive biases humans have that lead them to make poor decisions. I assure you that corporations have read all of this and are taking advantage of it to part you from your money, selling you products that they make you think will increase your happiness. Another resource on this would be Robert Shiller's book "Phishing for Phools, The Economics of Manipulation and Deception". This isn't about taking personal responsibility. Even when you become fully aware of the insidious way in which our culture works, it's impossible to entirely avoid being taken advantage of by marketing and advertising. We humans are made to think in certain ways, our brains have evolved in a way that gave us cognitive biases we can't escape, even when we're aware of them. Being aware can motivate us to change the culture itself (and its laws), though, so in the future people are less affected by corporate deceit and greed. Yes, this would likely mean lower corporate profits. (Question how we're conditioned to think of lower corporate profits as a bad thing.)
    - witty_username 10y ago
      What is wrong with corporate greed? I want the best returns out of the corporations I invest in. > Question how we're conditioned to think of lower corporate profits as a bad thing. Perhaps it is my neoliberal worldview, but I think most people are like "corporate profits can go down" for <my cause>. People think that corporations are owned only by billionares. Lower corporate profits are a bad thing for shareholders. Why don't we just take poor people's money since they're so greedy for wanting money? Most of the arguments against excess wealth can be used against many first-world people including HNers.
      - molsongolden 10y ago
        Take it further. Why are you a shareholder? Why are so many people shareholders? Investing for retirement is pushed heavily and incentivized by the government but is it for our own good or is it to provide liquidity in the financial game? If you are pushed to invest then you have skin in the game and are a shareholder who wants to increase corporate profits. This puts you almost directly at odds with all non-shareholders who are negatively affected by increasing profits.
        witty_username 10y ago
        People are shareholders to make money. > This puts you almost directly at odds with all non-shareholders who are negatively affected by increasing profits. Economics is not zero-sum. Few people such as competitors will be negatively affected, but for the average person there will be little impact. For example, if Google makes more profits I am hardly impacted.
    - E6300 10y ago
      So what exactly are you saying these influences can do? If you tell me that they're going to make me slightly more likely to buy one brand of soap than another, I can accept that. If you tell me that they're going to make me buy diamonds when I have no conceivable use for diamonds, I'm gonna have to call BS.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- witty_username 10y ago
  I'm not saying a person is perfectly rational. But if you don't like something just don't do it. Corporations aren't forcing you. Could you give an example of how you can't say no to advertisement?
  - mverwijs 10y ago
    The problem with manipulation is that there is no 'forcing'. That is the entire problem.
baursak 10y ago
And sometimes they remove competing things that people want so that the only thing available is what corporations have to offer. Case in point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...

mverwijs 10y ago

Advertisements target your lizard brain. That bypasses your rational thinking. It is not a fair fight and not merely "just say 'no'".

E6300 10y ago
That just sounds like a way to dodge responsibility.
- hsitz 10y ago
  I wish it were merely a way to avoid taking personal responsibility. There's much more to it than that. Read "The Psychology of Influence" along with some of the stuff by, e.g, Kahneman and/or Tversky on behavioral economics and the various cognitive biases humans have that lead them to make poor decisions. I assure you that corporations have read all of this and are taking advantage of it to part you from your money, selling you products that they make you think will increase your happiness. Another resource on this would be Robert Shiller's book "Phishing for Phools, The Economics of Manipulation and Deception". This isn't about taking personal responsibility. Even when you become fully aware of the insidious way in which our culture works, it's impossible to entirely avoid being taken advantage of by marketing and advertising. We humans are made to think in certain ways, our brains have evolved in a way that gave us cognitive biases we can't escape, even when we're aware of them. Being aware can motivate us to change the culture itself (and its laws), though, so in the future people are less affected by corporate deceit and greed. Yes, this would likely mean lower corporate profits. (Question how we're conditioned to think of lower corporate profits as a bad thing.)
  - witty_username 10y ago
    What is wrong with corporate greed? I want the best returns out of the corporations I invest in. > Question how we're conditioned to think of lower corporate profits as a bad thing. Perhaps it is my neoliberal worldview, but I think most people are like "corporate profits can go down" for <my cause>. People think that corporations are owned only by billionares. Lower corporate profits are a bad thing for shareholders. Why don't we just take poor people's money since they're so greedy for wanting money? Most of the arguments against excess wealth can be used against many first-world people including HNers.
    - molsongolden 10y ago
      Take it further. Why are you a shareholder? Why are so many people shareholders? Investing for retirement is pushed heavily and incentivized by the government but is it for our own good or is it to provide liquidity in the financial game? If you are pushed to invest then you have skin in the game and are a shareholder who wants to increase corporate profits. This puts you almost directly at odds with all non-shareholders who are negatively affected by increasing profits.
      - witty_username 10y ago
        People are shareholders to make money. > This puts you almost directly at odds with all non-shareholders who are negatively affected by increasing profits. Economics is not zero-sum. Few people such as competitors will be negatively affected, but for the average person there will be little impact. For example, if Google makes more profits I am hardly impacted.
  - E6300 10y ago
    So what exactly are you saying these influences can do? If you tell me that they're going to make me slightly more likely to buy one brand of soap than another, I can accept that. If you tell me that they're going to make me buy diamonds when I have no conceivable use for diamonds, I'm gonna have to call BS.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
witty_username 10y ago
I'm not saying a person is perfectly rational. But if you don't like something just don't do it. Corporations aren't forcing you. Could you give an example of how you can't say no to advertisement?
- mverwijs 10y ago
  The problem with manipulation is that there is no 'forcing'. That is the entire problem.

baursak 10y ago

And sometimes they remove competing things that people want so that the only thing available is what corporations have to offer. Case in point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...