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Another example about how google is broken. It has great difficulty distinguishing noise from signal.

blunte 6y ago
It's also another example of how modern tech companies are broken (or lacking ethics). Currently, many big tech companies do basically whatever they want. Facebook and other ad companies have been caught knowingly defrauding ad spend customers, Amazon has been knowingly permitting counterfeit sales for years, Uber has been ignoring regional laws globally, Airbnb was (and may still be) ignoring or hiding data that illustrates their connection with increased housing pressures, and on and on. Doing what you can get away with (because the cost of the penalty is lower than the profit that results from the bad behavior) is not ok. It doesn't contribute to an improved civilization, it pushes civilization back down toward a zero-sum, selfish survivalist mentality. I know it sounds corny or hippie, but if people can try to better balance their own desires against the good of the community, the end result will surely be better.
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  The economy is meant to be built so that anything harmful to the rest of society is either unprofitable, or criminal (i.e. theft). Obviously we have a new frontier of digital stuff, but the law and economic incentives are still ignorant of it.
  - blunte 6y ago
    There are plenty in power now who would disagree with your definition of economy. Sometimes law and policy is ignorant of technical concerns, but quite often it is aware and simply has a more selfish agenda. Prime example of this is modern US copyright and patent laws and enforcement. As long as elected officials have to raise funds to campaign and win, elected officials will be beholden to the people who financed them. If politicians didn't write special laws and loopholes for corporate special interests, they wouldn't last more than one term. They would be replaced by the next challenger who would take special interest money and then "pay it back" via special laws.
notacoward 6y ago
Is it really difficulty, or indifference? I think they could do better, but as a near-monopoly in that space they'd rather spend the money elsewhere.
- rdlecler1 6y ago
  Sounds like something Yahoo might have said when they declined to by Google. Maybe it’s a good time to start a search engine.

It's also another example of how modern tech companies are broken (or lacking ethics). Currently, many big tech companies do basically whatever they want. Facebook and other ad companies have been caught knowingly defrauding ad spend customers, Amazon has been knowingly permitting counterfeit sales for years, Uber has been ignoring regional laws globally, Airbnb was (and may still be) ignoring or hiding data that illustrates their connection with increased housing pressures, and on and on. Doing what you can get away with (because the cost of the penalty is lower than the profit that results from the bad behavior) is not ok. It doesn't contribute to an improved civilization, it pushes civilization back down toward a zero-sum, selfish survivalist mentality. I know it sounds corny or hippie, but if people can try to better balance their own desires against the good of the community, the end result will surely be better.

ClumsyPilot 6y ago
The economy is meant to be built so that anything harmful to the rest of society is either unprofitable, or criminal (i.e. theft). Obviously we have a new frontier of digital stuff, but the law and economic incentives are still ignorant of it.
- blunte 6y ago
  There are plenty in power now who would disagree with your definition of economy. Sometimes law and policy is ignorant of technical concerns, but quite often it is aware and simply has a more selfish agenda. Prime example of this is modern US copyright and patent laws and enforcement. As long as elected officials have to raise funds to campaign and win, elected officials will be beholden to the people who financed them. If politicians didn't write special laws and loopholes for corporate special interests, they wouldn't last more than one term. They would be replaced by the next challenger who would take special interest money and then "pay it back" via special laws.

notacoward 6y ago

Is it really difficulty, or indifference? I think they could do better, but as a near-monopoly in that space they'd rather spend the money elsewhere.

rdlecler1 6y ago
Sounds like something Yahoo might have said when they declined to by Google. Maybe it’s a good time to start a search engine.