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"That mistake was to fund the build-out of the public world wide web—as opposed to the earlier, government-funded corporate and academic internet—by monetizing

by Radim 9y ago

"That mistake was to fund the build-out of the public world wide web—as opposed to the earlier, government-funded corporate and academic internet—by monetizing eyeballs via advertising revenue." TL;DR: "Dude" discovered the universe likes to optimize, and identifies top-down regulation as the countermeasure. Political plugs abound ("Nazis took over the US"). Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16032643 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16032643

meri_dian 9y ago
It's as if ads are some terrible injustice brought down upon the weak and helpless masses... I really don't mind them.
- chimprich 9y ago
  > I really don't mind them. I understood Stross's point when talking about ads isn't that ads are bad per se (although they're pretty bad - do you use an ad-blocker?) but that they come along with a lot of unwanted other stuff because the entities serving ads are set up as increasingly efficient advertising machines. For example, Facebook (by design) becoming ever-increasingly demanding of attention by producing an endless stream of new notifications and features to increase capture your time spent on the platform. This develops into an attritional battle with the user for supremacy rather than a subservient tool to improve their lives.
rationaloutlook 9y ago
Yeah, I thought since it's the top link on Hacker News, it must be good. The guy is clearly a radicalized statist SJW (talks about punching people eg), and that totally colors his thinking.
- polotics 9y ago
  So I had to look up SJW and found out it is used to mean "Social Justice Warrior", as a pejorative. You're going to need better pejoratives, punk!
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    Yeah, "SJW" basically means "outspoken anti-bigot," and using it as an insult says a lot more about the speaker than their target. Kinda like "intellectual" and "cuckold".
    - jhgb 9y ago
      "SJW" basically means "outspoken anti-bigot" Are you sure about that? I'm pretty certain that outspoken anti-bigots and people commonly labeled as SJWs are not even in a proper subset relationship in either way.
      - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
        Google <sjw star wars>. There's a large group of people convinced that the new Star Wars movies were "ruined" by "SJWs" because they have too many female characters.
- orf 9y ago
  Maybe you're a victim of exactly what he is describing. No? Of course not. Help yourself to another steaming hot dollop of outrage from wherever you get it.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Only occurrence of the word "punch" in the article: > if someone gives you racist or sexist abuse to your face you can complain (or punch them). But it's impossible to punch a corporation I can't imagine what you think is controversial about that.
1_2__4 9y ago
And right on schedule the HN comment pooh-poohing the very thesis of the article with little more than snark to offer as evidence.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

by Radim 9y ago

meri_dian 9y ago

It's as if ads are some terrible injustice brought down upon the weak and helpless masses... I really don't mind them.

chimprich 9y ago
> I really don't mind them. I understood Stross's point when talking about ads isn't that ads are bad per se (although they're pretty bad - do you use an ad-blocker?) but that they come along with a lot of unwanted other stuff because the entities serving ads are set up as increasingly efficient advertising machines. For example, Facebook (by design) becoming ever-increasingly demanding of attention by producing an endless stream of new notifications and features to increase capture your time spent on the platform. This develops into an attritional battle with the user for supremacy rather than a subservient tool to improve their lives.

rationaloutlook 9y ago

Yeah, I thought since it's the top link on Hacker News, it must be good. The guy is clearly a radicalized statist SJW (talks about punching people eg), and that totally colors his thinking.

polotics 9y ago
So I had to look up SJW and found out it is used to mean "Social Justice Warrior", as a pejorative. You're going to need better pejoratives, punk!
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Yeah, "SJW" basically means "outspoken anti-bigot," and using it as an insult says a lot more about the speaker than their target. Kinda like "intellectual" and "cuckold".
  - jhgb 9y ago
    "SJW" basically means "outspoken anti-bigot" Are you sure about that? I'm pretty certain that outspoken anti-bigots and people commonly labeled as SJWs are not even in a proper subset relationship in either way.
    - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      Google <sjw star wars>. There's a large group of people convinced that the new Star Wars movies were "ruined" by "SJWs" because they have too many female characters.
orf 9y ago
Maybe you're a victim of exactly what he is describing. No? Of course not. Help yourself to another steaming hot dollop of outrage from wherever you get it.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
Only occurrence of the word "punch" in the article: > if someone gives you racist or sexist abuse to your face you can complain (or punch them). But it's impossible to punch a corporation I can't imagine what you think is controversial about that.

1_2__4 9y ago

And right on schedule the HN comment pooh-poohing the very thesis of the article with little more than snark to offer as evidence.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]