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> But if Facebook was running our diets, their algorithm would long since have "optimized" its way to junk food for all of us. I really, really like this compa
by wepple 5y ago
> But if Facebook was running our diets, their algorithm would long since have "optimized" its way to junk food for all of us.
I really, really like this comparison.
If we fed our bodies in the same way we let tech company algorithms feed our minds, we’d have three Big Macs for breakfast washed down with a shot of whiskey and a couple lines of cocaine
- uCantCauseUCant 5y agoTraditional american breakfast..
- zepto 5y agoThe traditional American breakfast is great if you need carbs to do manual labor.
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoWhen I read that, I kind of thought "hasn't that already happened"? The most enduring symbol of American capitalism is caffeinated sugar water. Our athletics competitions are sponsored by fast food conpanies. We live in an obesogenic environment. Yeah, people with reserves of health, wealth and wisdom can buck the trends by applying time and energy to fighting against the tide but if the average person is falling for this stuff, the battle's already lost as the insanity becomes normal.
- missedthecue 5y agoIt's not because there is a shortage of healthy alternatives. It's because people are free to choose.
- troyvit 5y agoYeah people are free to choose but to go full circle many of us let ourselves be manipulated by advertising[0] and dark patterns[1] to make unhealthy choices. That's why USA is so obese. When I look at countries like Japan I don't see a limit in food choices, but I see a lot more healthy people. [0] https://theconversation.com/how-marketers-condition-us-to-buy-more-junk-food-43466 https://theconversation.com/how-marketers-condition-us-to-bu... [1] https://cspinet.org/protecting-our-health/nutrition/unhealthy-checkout/8-ways-supermarkets-make-you-buy-more https://cspinet.org/protecting-our-health/nutrition/unhealth...
- simplify 5y agoI might argue someone is not "free to choose" if they haven't been taught how to spot dark patterns in rhetoric and advertising.
- missedthecue 5y agoI don't think people completely lose their agency just because they saw a Coca Cola billboard.
- simplify 5y agoSure, but I didn't say they completely lose their agency.
- brundolf 5y agoI feel like on the nutritional side there's been a (not total, but significant) reversal over the last decade. Some of that gets eaten up by marketing (food that isn't any healthier gets packaged in muted shades of green and brown to make it appear more grounded and wholesome), but some of it is real (I no longer know a single person who drinks soda on a regular basis). Maybe in another decade or two we'll see a similar shift in the digital space.
- Apocryphon 5y agoThat might also be a factor of where you're living at.
- brundolf 5y agoI don't think that's the whole story. Even national brands like McDonalds have subtly changed their packaging to feel less artificial and more "earthy", for lack of a better term, even if the product itself hasn't changed. There's an awareness of a cultural shift. I would guess that processed/high-sugar foods today are where cigarettes were in the 90s. Everybody knows and accepts how bad they are, many people have changed their habits accordingly, many people haven't. Digital media on the other hand is more like where cigarettes were in the 70s. Most people know roughly that they're bad for you, but few do anything about it.
- atok1 5y agoI have definitely noticed this (healthy) trend pop up in the last few years as well. Very much welcomed in changing from the old, unhealthy food.
- am_says 5y ago'conpanies' is a great word. Perhaps a mis-type, but perfectly sums up today's corporates.
- stirfish 5y ago>we’d have three Big Macs for breakfast washed down with a shot of whiskey and a couple lines of cocaine But that's a normal breakfast? Maybe it's more like eating only rabbits: rabbits for breakfast, rabbits for lunch, rabbits for dinner until you starve
- MathMonkeyMan 5y agoI dont't understand the analogy with rabbits, what with the staving and all.
- timje1 5y agoBack in UK history there were paid rabbit hunters, who'd roam a farmer's land hunting rabbits. They ate a lot of rabbit. It turns out that rabbit meat is not nutritionally complete and some of them died. https://fourtallpalms.com/why-rabbit-meat-is-not-the-best-survival-food/ https://fourtallpalms.com/why-rabbit-meat-is-not-the-best-su...
- stirfish 5y agoRabbits are plentiful and easy to catch, but they are not nutritionally complete. If you eat only rabbits, you'll go crazy and die >If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning
- toomanybeersies 5y ago> three Big Macs for breakfast washed down with a shot of whiskey and a couple lines of cocaine That was essentially what Hunter S Thompson used to have for breakfast, just with cigarettes instead of McDonalds [1] [1] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/33487/hunter-s-thompsons-daily-routine https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/33487/hunter-s-thompsons...