4 ms·

Why is this puzzling to people? Isn't this behavior exactly what we'd want out of intelligent, thoughtful people in high places? The ability to countenance and

• trevyn 8y ago
  IMO, most critiques are poorly-thought-out and therefore quickly dismissed, so when a well-thought-out critique appears and captures interest, this is surface-level puzzling. Especially to those who are poorly able to evaluate the quality of an argument themselves.
• smhost 8y ago
  > It made him sad, he told me, to see people build things that destroy their own societies > “If you make people start thinking far more deeply and seriously about these issues,” he told me, sounding weary, “some of the things they will think about might not be what you want them to think about.” It's not puzzling, it's troubling. To see these people who are actively destroying society be so fascinated by their own powers of destruction.
  • darawk 8y ago
    You think that all tech is doing is destroying society?
    • sverige 8y ago
      Yes, actually.
      • darawk 8y ago
        You think that Google search is destroying the world? How, exactly?
    • lovich 8y ago
      Ad tech and it's supporting industries? Yes
      • darawk 8y ago
        How, exactly? Explain the physics of that to me. How is ad tech destroying the world?
        • lovich 8y ago
          Oh you're being a literalist. I can go into Bitcoin for global warming if you want that, but when people say "destroying the world" in the thread they are talking about destroying the set of values and institutions that make up our current culture/society. To that definition, I think ad tech is helping destroy the world will of it's psychological manipulation of people at a scale that's never been done before
          • darawk 8y ago
            > Oh you're being a literalist. Merely responding to the tone of the comment I was, well, responding to. > To that definition, I think ad tech is helping destroy the world will of it's psychological manipulation of people at a scale that's never been done before I see very little evidence that ad tech is doing any of that. I think you could make a much better case that social media is doing that. But it's not the ads that are toxic - it's the primary content. The ads are really no worse than they've ever been on television or otherwise. There's certainly a case to be made that social media, a small corner of the tech universe, is harming certain social institutions and values. But it's a far cry from destroying the world, especially in light of how much tech has given the world that has been good.
            • lovich 8y ago
              Social media and ad tech are currently intertwined. Facebook and Twitter are both two large players who are both ad tech and social media based. Google was until recently, and that was after years of failure, which they committed to because social media is such a force multiplier for adtech. Can you name another large social media company who doesn't make money off of ad tech? Snap Chat is the only other major social media company I can think of at the moment, and they also make their revenue off of ads. As for >Merely responding to the tone of the comment I was, well, responding to. You were responding to the well known phrase "destroying the world" as if it was physically tearing the earth apart, when it's been a phrase for destroying the currently accepted social norms since at least the 90s when I first heard it in popular media. If you want to have a discussion stop being disengenous about your arguments Edit: I went and reviewed the thread. You asked "You think that all tech is doing is destroying society?". When I said "Yes", you asked for the physics of how it was destroying the world. Please stop moving the goal posts
  • quadcore 8y ago
    Why do you guys assume your fathers haven't those issued covered? You think they are new issues? When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It's covered. We have decentralisation, scrutiny and from that comes the ability to secede. No machine nor algorithm nor class is gonna take over and remove your right to pursue happiness. At least not permanently. The point being, let's not make a reality of a possible future. Whatever future comes, we have it covered.
    • smhost 8y ago
      the declaration of independence has no legal authority. that's just a tactic politicians use to make their voters feel safe about their rights being violated.
      • quadcore 8y ago
        You can secede.
        • goliatone 8y ago
          I don’t think I would like to see that happening or even put to a test, but I really really doubt it would be as simple as you make it sound
          • quadcore 8y ago
            You can always secede, but some systems make it harder. You won't find a better system than the one which clearly stipulate you have scrutiny and "easy" secession. So don't let fear makes you adopt for a lesser system. Fear is the strongest of our enemy. That's the position the declaration of independence let you in. How beautiful is that?
• marmot777 8y ago
  Yes, it is a good sign that people are listening to different perspectives. I’d be more concerned if tech leaders lived in sealed bubbles.