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> You are the product of TV. Off topic of course, but there is a deeper double meaning there -- that your your personality, preferences, hopes, dreams are shap

by rdtsc 9y ago

> You are the product of TV. Off topic of course, but there is a deeper double meaning there -- that your your personality, preferences, hopes, dreams are shaped by the media you consume. Things like what you think success is, what you think happiness is, heroism, kindness, friendship etc many of those things were shaped by the movies you saw, books your read, games you played. It's common to hear that "you are what you eat". That's true at the physical level of course. But this is also true that "you are the media you consume". Now to the topic at hand. I think any totalitarian or brutal government regime would salivate getting access to the data people freely and voluntarily share with Google and Facebook. Imagine a combination of a Stalin's regime and Facebook as a partnership. Or Google working with the Stasi. It's hyperbolic to make that connection today, but with things like watching this happening: http://fortune.com/2017/05/24/mark-zuckerberg-disrupt-for-president-pac/ http://fortune.com/2017/05/24/mark-zuckerberg-disrupt-for-pr... we are getting just a bit closer to it. People are wondering why a tech guy like me doesn't have a Facebook account and that's one of the reasons.

Fnoord 9y ago
> That's true at the physical level of course. No, not really, this is way too simplified and is factually incorrect. Lets take the example of a pig. If you eat a pig you don't become a pig. Certainly not overnight. Here's a more factually correct analogy which does explain what happens: Whatever you throw in your stomach (engine) gets burned and becomes fuel. If you regularly throw in too much fuel, the engine becomes overburdened and you become overweight (+ other obesitas related diseases). That's a rather subtle but significant difference. > But this is also true that "you are the media you consume". The same is true here. Its not a A -> B process; the process is much more subtle, nuanced, and complex. E.g. here's also other aspects such as genes and personality which meddle w/the process.

by rdtsc 9y ago

Fnoord 9y ago

> That's true at the physical level of course. No, not really, this is way too simplified and is factually incorrect. Lets take the example of a pig. If you eat a pig you don't become a pig. Certainly not overnight. Here's a more factually correct analogy which does explain what happens: Whatever you throw in your stomach (engine) gets burned and becomes fuel. If you regularly throw in too much fuel, the engine becomes overburdened and you become overweight (+ other obesitas related diseases). That's a rather subtle but significant difference. > But this is also true that "you are the media you consume". The same is true here. Its not a A -> B process; the process is much more subtle, nuanced, and complex. E.g. here's also other aspects such as genes and personality which meddle w/the process.