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Our abilities to pay attention are limited. Not so our abilities to receive it - Michael Goldharber The Attention Economy accidentally came into being taking a

by ksey3 3y ago

Our abilities to pay attention are limited. Not so our abilities to receive it - Michael Goldharber The Attention Economy accidentally came into being taking advantage of the inequality above without anyone knowing about the inequality itself. People have a need for attention. Advertisers have a need for attention for their products. The platforms had a need for cash to keep all their freebies running (search, chat, video, social, email, streaming etc) and make sense/filter down exploding Information the internet produced. These 3 needs accidentally came together, with no one having any clue about Goldharbers inequality and we get the absurdity that currently exists. The original problem being solved - how to handle the info explosion was forgotten. Everyone got side tracked into how to capture attention. And then they got rich. The question today is knowing much more abt the inequality and still facing the ever increasing Info overload problem, how do we build better less exploitative systems?

xeonmc 3y ago
So basically...attention is all you need?
steveBK123 3y ago
One theory I've had re: inequality and peoples feelings towards it now vs 10/20/30 years ago (its been fairly stable since 1992 in 40-41 range) is that its a social media phenomenon. Previously, I didn't know any of my friends (or their friends) flew private jets or stayed in $1000/night resorts regularly. Someone in town might have a nicer house or nicer car, but I didn't see them (or their kids) flaunting or humblebragging on social media about where they did spend their money. Unironically it's probably much worse with kids because they don't have the social mores & filter to understand what they shouldn't be posting. There's a lot of "stealth wealth" that has lost it's stealth out there due to this.
- mavhc 3y ago
  No one I know does that, apparently I know better people than average
nologic01 3y ago
> how do we build better less exploitative systems? Its a black hole from which there is no escape. The only mechanism accepted by society is monetary profit and there is no way a less exploitative system will be more profitable.
andai 3y ago
Who is being exploited?

by ksey3 3y ago

xeonmc 3y ago

So basically...attention is all you need?

steveBK123 3y ago

One theory I've had re: inequality and peoples feelings towards it now vs 10/20/30 years ago (its been fairly stable since 1992 in 40-41 range) is that its a social media phenomenon. Previously, I didn't know any of my friends (or their friends) flew private jets or stayed in $1000/night resorts regularly. Someone in town might have a nicer house or nicer car, but I didn't see them (or their kids) flaunting or humblebragging on social media about where they did spend their money. Unironically it's probably much worse with kids because they don't have the social mores & filter to understand what they shouldn't be posting. There's a lot of "stealth wealth" that has lost it's stealth out there due to this.

mavhc 3y ago
No one I know does that, apparently I know better people than average

nologic01 3y ago

> how do we build better less exploitative systems? Its a black hole from which there is no escape. The only mechanism accepted by society is monetary profit and there is no way a less exploitative system will be more profitable.

andai 3y ago

Who is being exploited?