4 ms·

What I find almost as depressing is evidently the concerted push to normalize this practice. We were all shocked by Polymarket, but meanwhile others just saw i

by xg15 4mo ago

What I find almost as depressing is evidently the concerted push to normalize this practice. We were all shocked by Polymarket, but meanwhile others just saw it as yet another emerging market - and now CNN is including it in news segments as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
nradov 4mo ago
[flagged]
- add-sub-mul-div 4mo ago
  Of course. They didn't treat 45 like a real candidate in 2015 because he deserved to be seen as one, they did it because it's lowest common denominator content and it's what people watch.
- reaperducer 4mo ago
  People still watch CNN? 910,000 in prime time hours in April, which is 909,999 more than you. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/here-are-the-cable-news-ratings-for-april-2026/ https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/here-are-the-cable-news-rati...
ToucanLoucan 4mo ago
We are incredibly market-brained at this point. A certain kind of person loves markets because they provide decisions on complex questions at scale. And like, that's not NEVER true, but it also takes for granted a lot of rational thinking among people who act completely irrationally with incredible regularity. Perhaps our greatest cultural fiction right now is the "rationality" of markets, and people are looking for insight more than ever on our insane world. So that makes perfect sense to me, really.
- Terr_ 4mo ago
  > A certain kind of person loves markets because they provide decisions on complex questions at scale. And like, that's not NEVER true, but it also takes for granted a lot of rational thinking It also tends to assume a certain hypothetical ideal of perfect information, where all prices and transactions are public, secret deals don't exist, and ownership/interests are never hidden.
  - buddhu 4mo ago
    Information asymmetry is one of those things that is so obvious that you'd expect it to be fundamental to economics, but it wasn't until the mid-90s that mainstream economics started to take it seriously. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry
reaperducer 4mo ago
What I find almost just as depressing is evidently the concerted push to normalize this practice. The gambling industry has been trying to normalize gambling for decades. I first ran into this in the mid-90's when the PR woman for a race track told me not to call it "gambling," but instead to call it "gaming." We see gambling language used everywhere now, if you know what to look for. Terms like "all in" and "table stakes" are gambling terms,† but people use them every day in regular conversation. † Though "all in" was used as far back as the 1930's to mean "very tired," I hardly ever hear anyone use it that way anymore.
Spooky23 4mo ago
It’s the logical next step for the crypto bros. At this point it’s just political patronage for the small time MAGA grifters who are outside of the big boy financial frauds.
georgemcbay 4mo ago
> CNN is including it in news segments as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. As someone who doesn't pay much attention to traditional news stations much these days, I was kind of taken aback by the over-the-top product placements they do now when exposed to it. See for example: https://youtu.be/9BPO-swW5eo?si=vLExNIXfeQmYHIDc&t=340 https://youtu.be/9BPO-swW5eo?si=vLExNIXfeQmYHIDc&t=340 @5:40 (if your platform doesn't carry over the timestamp) Polymarket/Kalshi are far more damaging to society than soda, but seeing this I was struck by how we've reached a point where the old Wayne's World product placement gag wouldn't even read as satire anymore, that's just how things actually are now.

by xg15 4mo ago

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

nradov 4mo ago

[flagged]

add-sub-mul-div 4mo ago
Of course. They didn't treat 45 like a real candidate in 2015 because he deserved to be seen as one, they did it because it's lowest common denominator content and it's what people watch.
reaperducer 4mo ago
People still watch CNN? 910,000 in prime time hours in April, which is 909,999 more than you. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/here-are-the-cable-news-ratings-for-april-2026/ https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/here-are-the-cable-news-rati...

ToucanLoucan 4mo ago

We are incredibly market-brained at this point. A certain kind of person loves markets because they provide decisions on complex questions at scale. And like, that's not NEVER true, but it also takes for granted a lot of rational thinking among people who act completely irrationally with incredible regularity. Perhaps our greatest cultural fiction right now is the "rationality" of markets, and people are looking for insight more than ever on our insane world. So that makes perfect sense to me, really.

Terr_ 4mo ago
> A certain kind of person loves markets because they provide decisions on complex questions at scale. And like, that's not NEVER true, but it also takes for granted a lot of rational thinking It also tends to assume a certain hypothetical ideal of perfect information, where all prices and transactions are public, secret deals don't exist, and ownership/interests are never hidden.
- buddhu 4mo ago
  Information asymmetry is one of those things that is so obvious that you'd expect it to be fundamental to economics, but it wasn't until the mid-90s that mainstream economics started to take it seriously. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry

reaperducer 4mo ago

What I find almost just as depressing is evidently the concerted push to normalize this practice. The gambling industry has been trying to normalize gambling for decades. I first ran into this in the mid-90's when the PR woman for a race track told me not to call it "gambling," but instead to call it "gaming." We see gambling language used everywhere now, if you know what to look for. Terms like "all in" and "table stakes" are gambling terms,† but people use them every day in regular conversation. † Though "all in" was used as far back as the 1930's to mean "very tired," I hardly ever hear anyone use it that way anymore.

Spooky23 4mo ago

It’s the logical next step for the crypto bros. At this point it’s just political patronage for the small time MAGA grifters who are outside of the big boy financial frauds.

georgemcbay 4mo ago

> CNN is including it in news segments as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. As someone who doesn't pay much attention to traditional news stations much these days, I was kind of taken aback by the over-the-top product placements they do now when exposed to it. See for example: https://youtu.be/9BPO-swW5eo?si=vLExNIXfeQmYHIDc&t=340 https://youtu.be/9BPO-swW5eo?si=vLExNIXfeQmYHIDc&t=340 @5:40 (if your platform doesn't carry over the timestamp) Polymarket/Kalshi are far more damaging to society than soda, but seeing this I was struck by how we've reached a point where the old Wayne's World product placement gag wouldn't even read as satire anymore, that's just how things actually are now.