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One thing HN has taught me many times is I’m too trustful of people and things. I was defending Theranos way past their sell-by date, and I’ve been refusing to
by peteretep 8y ago
One thing HN has taught me many times is I’m too trustful of people and things. I was defending Theranos way past their sell-by date, and I’ve been refusing to take “Facebook / Zuck is evil” seriously for a long time too. This isn’t a good look for them at all tho
- reasonablemann 8y agoMy high school had the foresight to have a media literacy class 20 years ago. I never looked at an advertisement the same after that.
- mancerayder 8y agoThis just isn't being talked about enough. Educating people is one way to help the individual combat deceptive media practices, dark patterns in games and UIs, and much more. Luckily, my parents taught me to loathe commercials, and later political ideals led me to read a lot on the topic of the interaction between media and advertising and ideas, and how propaganda actually works (hint: effective propaganda isn't about lies, it's about showing some truths and not talking about others). And this was all before the Internet boom and the terrible ad-tech hell we find ourselves in. Anyway, kudos to your high school.
- Cpoll 8y agoDo you recall what the required reading was?
- TaylorAlexander 8y agoThis is truly a fantastic place to start (there is a book of the same name): https://youtu.be/AnrBQEAM3rE https://youtu.be/AnrBQEAM3rE
- pennaMan 8y agoOutstanding. A 1992 documentary that describes fb and all modern media down to a T.
- kodablah 8y agoJust be mindful that HN (or any outlet these days) will never teach you the positive value of FB for the common person. FB is indeed evil in this case, but be careful not to blindly make over-generalizations with unnecessary correlations. FB, like most, can be good and evil. You don't have to accept the deluge of low quality, substanceless FB op eds the same way you do articles with more objective content. We have the ability to have more nuanced opinions about companies than all good or all evil.
- peteretep 8y agoMy point is more that I've found HN's negativity to be more realistic than my natural optimism, over and over again.
- kodablah 8y agoSure, just saying don't let the local sentiment change you. I personally have found the opposite once outside the echo chamber, granted like HN, I am naturally pessimistic/skeptical. I've found common-person use of tech and common tech business to be nowhere near as negative.
- tremon 8y agoI've also found the common-person use and valuation of tech to be nowhere near as informed as HN's.
- kodablah 8y agoA bliss users enjoy, as we might in areas we're less knowledgeable in. They see a forest, we see trees; doesn't discount their happiness.
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 8y agoHow is that relevant? Yes, uninformed people aren't worried by the problems they don't know about. That doesn't make the problems any less problematic.
- bjoli 8y agoWhether Facebook is evil or not is not really the question. I frame it like this: We have a couple of big companies that make money from one thing: knowing as much as they can about you. Currently they sell ads. We have given these companies an important part of society. So much, in fact, that the choice is not "should I use X" but "should I chose not to use X and face not-so-small consequences for doing so?".
- locklock 8y agoFor curiosity's sake... we know now that Theranos was never anything more than hot air and marketing. What caused you to defend them at the time?
- aleeds 8y agoProbably the same thing that caused it to be worth $9 billion. Holmes was incredibly convincing and had real contracts with huge companies.