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Arguably providing everyone the means to pay for what individuals need to live a healthy, thriving life, is what's necessary - so they can cover the costs of th

by loceng 6y ago

Arguably providing everyone the means to pay for what individuals need to live a healthy, thriving life, is what's necessary - so they can cover the costs of these services without the need for ads to cover those costs. The ad industrial complex was a way to fast track processes, however it doesn't account for the externalized costs of manipulative advertising on society - lower quality, addictive products-services having a higher profit margin and therefore a higher budget for marketing/advertising as part of sustaining the complex. Decentralization therefore isn't a necessity except as a failsafe against potential bad actors, however data and network portability is necessary law/policy to be in place to counter actions of bad actors who use this current lack of easy mobility as a network defense mechanism.

dfxm12 6y ago
so they can cover the costs of these services without the need for ads to cover those costs. I don't think that once you pay for a service, ads and selling user data simply go away. In general, companies don't exist to just cover their costs, they exist to make as much money as they can. If they can make money by showing you ads or sell your data, they will.
- loceng 6y ago
  Yes, but if you're providing people enough to at least cover the costs of necessary services (perhaps even providing 10%+ above costs to allow budget for R&D or profit) then a competitor will come along who's against ads (for reasons: interruptive/intrusive, manipulative, etc) then there at least is a choice now possible - the ability to compete with ad-only funded options. Some people, maybe the majority of people, will be fine with using ad-only supported systems - exchanging their time, attention, and being manipulated - so then they have more of their UBI to spend elsewhere. The important point is the fluidity it allows within the system, to allow competitors to exist who don't need to depend on ads; and then you'll have the whole ad industrial complex + every other company that depends on influencing/manipulating people with ads to sustain their sales trying to counter how much UBI get so these systems can't be maintained without ads, keeping non-manipulative competition down at a disadvantage and unable to compete adequately.

by loceng 6y ago

dfxm12 6y ago

so they can cover the costs of these services without the need for ads to cover those costs. I don't think that once you pay for a service, ads and selling user data simply go away. In general, companies don't exist to just cover their costs, they exist to make as much money as they can. If they can make money by showing you ads or sell your data, they will.

loceng 6y ago
Yes, but if you're providing people enough to at least cover the costs of necessary services (perhaps even providing 10%+ above costs to allow budget for R&D or profit) then a competitor will come along who's against ads (for reasons: interruptive/intrusive, manipulative, etc) then there at least is a choice now possible - the ability to compete with ad-only funded options. Some people, maybe the majority of people, will be fine with using ad-only supported systems - exchanging their time, attention, and being manipulated - so then they have more of their UBI to spend elsewhere. The important point is the fluidity it allows within the system, to allow competitors to exist who don't need to depend on ads; and then you'll have the whole ad industrial complex + every other company that depends on influencing/manipulating people with ads to sustain their sales trying to counter how much UBI get so these systems can't be maintained without ads, keeping non-manipulative competition down at a disadvantage and unable to compete adequately.