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At some point in the future, we'll be looking back at news like this in one of two ways. Either with fondness - this was how we reformed companies like Faceboo

At some point in the future, we'll be looking back at news like this in one of two ways. Either with fondness - this was how we reformed companies like Facebook and Google and their rampant invasion of privacy for the individual! Or we'll not look back at it at all. Because they'll win, enslave us all, and have the Ministry of Truth rewrite it out of history entirely. EDIT: fixed failed 1984 reference ;)

DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
our reality seems closer to Brave New World than 1984
- moosey 8y ago
  Different impulses for different people. Basically, both are actively happening (1984: 'The Party', realities built on lies and tightly controlled information, etc.), and on Brave New World, which is something that we see in contemporary social media, the opiate of the masses. I've noted how much an effect marketing has had in my own cultural leaning and decision making process throughout my life of late, and I'm quite blown away. It seems that the only information source that I can read that isn't immediately trying to shape my opinion about something to my detriment are actual scientific papers, at this point. It's quite exhausting to be informed.
  - DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
    interesting and I agree with you. sorry if my original comment sounded like I was correcting you or something. I had my mind made up after watching an actual 90 mins panel[1] on this subject - then after watching I re-read both books and since then thought I finally had my answer to this annoying question. that is until you just tore it all up again with more facts I hadn't considered :) the problem you describe with reading feels very familiar. I haven't had time to read any fiction for 20 years and only focused on papers (or stuff that I felt had some kind of immediate value to my career). The only pleasure I allowed myself was social media, shallow type of blogs and regurgitated opinions from books that were published not longer than the previous 2 years. then one day I noticed something was missing in my life and I missed the fiction of my childhood. I then switched to reading only old books (nothing published after 1970 preferably before WWII ...) and the more old stuff I read the less I wanted to write. I felt there is no point in reading new books because everything that could have ever been said has already been said. (NNTaleb pointed me to this "fact" in Antifragile which also triggered my abstinence from anything new). I used to write a lot of blogs before too but after reading old things I realize I have little to add to the conversation (and if I do it's just diluting the pool of good existing content). maybe we're just all totally overloaded from the amount of data our brains are being asked to process these days. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CcclqEiZw&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CcclqEiZw&t=1s
    - samcday 8y ago
      That video looks intriguing, I'll check it out! I just wanted to add though, that I think you should never stop writing and adding to the conversation. As a species, we know what we consider to be a lot of stuff. But really, we objectively have no freaking clue about much of anything. Take any subject, ask "why?" enough times, and you'll reach a dead end. In most cases, you'll reach that dead end surprisingly fast. Rehashing knowledge may not be "useful" to us as a collective, but if it eventually leads to you (or someone reading your work) discovering a fresh new insight, then it was absolutely worth it. Another example. There's a lot of art that is being produced, TODAY, that is incredibly fresh. The kind of stuff that is taking advantage of the exciting new mediums we've got at our disposal, encouraging a whole new generation of people to challenge themselves and others. I'm sure if a lot of those creatives had really stepped back and assessed the landscape of what's been done before, they would have resolved that "it's all been done" and they shouldn't even bother.

DyslexicAtheist 8y ago

our reality seems closer to Brave New World than 1984

moosey 8y ago
Different impulses for different people. Basically, both are actively happening (1984: 'The Party', realities built on lies and tightly controlled information, etc.), and on Brave New World, which is something that we see in contemporary social media, the opiate of the masses. I've noted how much an effect marketing has had in my own cultural leaning and decision making process throughout my life of late, and I'm quite blown away. It seems that the only information source that I can read that isn't immediately trying to shape my opinion about something to my detriment are actual scientific papers, at this point. It's quite exhausting to be informed.
- DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
  interesting and I agree with you. sorry if my original comment sounded like I was correcting you or something. I had my mind made up after watching an actual 90 mins panel[1] on this subject - then after watching I re-read both books and since then thought I finally had my answer to this annoying question. that is until you just tore it all up again with more facts I hadn't considered :) the problem you describe with reading feels very familiar. I haven't had time to read any fiction for 20 years and only focused on papers (or stuff that I felt had some kind of immediate value to my career). The only pleasure I allowed myself was social media, shallow type of blogs and regurgitated opinions from books that were published not longer than the previous 2 years. then one day I noticed something was missing in my life and I missed the fiction of my childhood. I then switched to reading only old books (nothing published after 1970 preferably before WWII ...) and the more old stuff I read the less I wanted to write. I felt there is no point in reading new books because everything that could have ever been said has already been said. (NNTaleb pointed me to this "fact" in Antifragile which also triggered my abstinence from anything new). I used to write a lot of blogs before too but after reading old things I realize I have little to add to the conversation (and if I do it's just diluting the pool of good existing content). maybe we're just all totally overloaded from the amount of data our brains are being asked to process these days. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CcclqEiZw&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CcclqEiZw&t=1s
  - samcday 8y ago
    That video looks intriguing, I'll check it out! I just wanted to add though, that I think you should never stop writing and adding to the conversation. As a species, we know what we consider to be a lot of stuff. But really, we objectively have no freaking clue about much of anything. Take any subject, ask "why?" enough times, and you'll reach a dead end. In most cases, you'll reach that dead end surprisingly fast. Rehashing knowledge may not be "useful" to us as a collective, but if it eventually leads to you (or someone reading your work) discovering a fresh new insight, then it was absolutely worth it. Another example. There's a lot of art that is being produced, TODAY, that is incredibly fresh. The kind of stuff that is taking advantage of the exciting new mediums we've got at our disposal, encouraging a whole new generation of people to challenge themselves and others. I'm sure if a lot of those creatives had really stepped back and assessed the landscape of what's been done before, they would have resolved that "it's all been done" and they shouldn't even bother.