6 ms·

I remember being a kid, and thinking that CNN must have some really intelligent, mature writing, that I was simply too young to understand. Now, they post these

by jkoudys 12y ago

I remember being a kid, and thinking that CNN must have some really intelligent, mature writing, that I was simply too young to understand. Now, they post these sensationalist headlines (I was expecting it to be a play on words, e.g. it was an article about funeral planning or life insurance), and fan the flames of idiocy with writing like this: "And if you think your own job is safe, think again. New research predicts that nearly half of all jobs are susceptible to automation over the next two decades." So silicon valley is bad _because_ they find more efficient ways to do things? Should we also be upset with anyone who sells a refrigerator, for making all those poor iceblock-expeditions and milkmen obsolete? Does the "\"sharing economy\"" (my quotes around their quotes, for how much they quote that term) mean that by using our cars, homes, tools, etc. more efficiently, and buying less new stuff, we're actually saying "drop dead" to the people who would have manufactured new things? If there's a large number of people who hold degrees, who don't need the degree for the job they have, isn't that a fault with our education system? What about that bizarre arrogance that so many had in the 80s, where they thought their kids must have a degree so they don't end up in a "blue collar" job? So many would be earning good money now if they'd just gone to a trade school, and learned welding, plumbing, carpentry, HVAC, etc. instead of training for one of the office jobs which software has now made largely obsolete.

lstyls 12y ago
> I remember being a kid, and thinking that CNN must have some really intelligent, mature writing, that I was simply too young to understand. Now, they post these sensationalist headlines Ironically, we can attribute the flourishing of trash articles like these to the new media landscape that has arrived due to the emergence of new technologies...
- jkoudys 12y ago
  I don't think so. When I go back and watch TV shows or read headlines from around when I was born, they weren't any better back then, I was simply too young to realize how ridiculous they all were. Case in point, the mass hysteria around daycare sexual abuse and satanic rituals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial
  - lstyls 12y ago
    I 100% agree that there has always been sensationalism in journalism - that's nothing new. But back then the volume of print media was limited by physical factors - it was expensive to get an article in print. The new economics of media has fundamentally changed the business models. There was no print equivalent of Buzzfeed for example. My point is that the barrier to entry for shoddy journalism is so low that articles like this are flooding the medium more than ever.
  - afarrell 12y ago
    You would probably find http://www.retroreport.org/ http://www.retroreport.org/ interesting
- skadamat 12y ago
  > Ironically, we can attribute the flourishing of trash articles like these to the new media landscape that has arrived due to the emergence of new technologies... While I generally agree, it's up to us as a society to determine how new technologies are used. There's a difference between doing nuclear research and the research itself being the reason for nuclear weapons. People were responsible for the weapons / using technology in that way, but it is a fine line!
- pm24601 12y ago
  So why do you think there is nothing to this article?
michaelochurch 12y ago
This article is the right side of an important issue poorly defended and abysmally presented. Silicon Valley isn't trying to fuck over Millennials. Like a paperclip maximizer, it doesn't care either way.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  > Silicon Valley isn't trying to fuck over Millennials. Like a paperclip maximizer, it doesn't care either way. Exactly. People think other people are responsible and have some evil plan, while this is all Moloch's doing. Everyone follows their icentives perfectly, and the combined system drives us down to hell. http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
zzalpha 12y ago
While I generally agree the article is a hyperbolic polemic (I mean, really, "Third, we can elect leaders who are vocal about holding Silicon Valley accountable for their power over the entire American workforce, including white-collar employees"... what does that even mean?!), the concerns about the "sharing economy" are pretty reasonable. Ultimately, these companies can easily trick folks into undervaluing their own labour. Now, I grant you, the folks involved are free to make that decision. But at minimum it should be an educated decision, and this is where the role of government or organized labour institutions can play an important role. Meanwhile, long-term, we are almost certainly going down the path of increasing automation, and that means we must, as a society, have an open discussion about what that means, and what might need to be put into place to try and mitigate some of the downsides (which is, of course, why the concept of a minimum basic income has re-entered the popular discourse). That's not to say that this trend is a necessarily evil one. We shouldn't be trying to preserve the jobs of the poor buggy whip makers. But it may very well mean a sea change in the way society views work, government assistance and the social safety net, health care, pensions and old age support, etc.
sbisker 12y ago
In fairness, CNN was only started in 1980. In its beginning, it may very well have been much more intelligent and mature. Now that the TV news business model (and cable for that matter) is much more mature, it's a race to the bottom.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  > Now that the TV news business model (and cable for that matter) is much more mature, it's a race to the bottom. It probably isn't a very original insight, but at some point not long ago I realized that every market turns into race to the bottom as it matures.
  - undersuit 12y ago
    Same kind of mechanism behind "The Moderator Problem" article, I assume.
nosuchthing 12y ago
So silicon valley is bad _because_ they find more efficient ways to do things? Should we also be upset with anyone who sells a refrigerator, for making all those poor iceblock-expeditions and milkmen obsolete? Does the "\"sharing economy\"" (my quotes around their quotes, for how much they quote that term) mean that by using our cars, homes, tools, etc. more efficiently, and buying less new stuff, we're actually saying "drop dead" to the people who would have manufactured new things? Soon we and our economics will have to confront the massive efficiency boost of our machinery that gives us sufficient production of goods and services for less hours of work. We can let half the world starve, or we can educate and build for the future instead of the next big prophesied exit or fiscal quarter..

by jkoudys 12y ago

lstyls 12y ago

> I remember being a kid, and thinking that CNN must have some really intelligent, mature writing, that I was simply too young to understand. Now, they post these sensationalist headlines Ironically, we can attribute the flourishing of trash articles like these to the new media landscape that has arrived due to the emergence of new technologies...

jkoudys 12y ago
I don't think so. When I go back and watch TV shows or read headlines from around when I was born, they weren't any better back then, I was simply too young to realize how ridiculous they all were. Case in point, the mass hysteria around daycare sexual abuse and satanic rituals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial
- lstyls 12y ago
  I 100% agree that there has always been sensationalism in journalism - that's nothing new. But back then the volume of print media was limited by physical factors - it was expensive to get an article in print. The new economics of media has fundamentally changed the business models. There was no print equivalent of Buzzfeed for example. My point is that the barrier to entry for shoddy journalism is so low that articles like this are flooding the medium more than ever.
- afarrell 12y ago
  You would probably find http://www.retroreport.org/ http://www.retroreport.org/ interesting
skadamat 12y ago
> Ironically, we can attribute the flourishing of trash articles like these to the new media landscape that has arrived due to the emergence of new technologies... While I generally agree, it's up to us as a society to determine how new technologies are used. There's a difference between doing nuclear research and the research itself being the reason for nuclear weapons. People were responsible for the weapons / using technology in that way, but it is a fine line!
pm24601 12y ago
So why do you think there is nothing to this article?

michaelochurch 12y ago

This article is the right side of an important issue poorly defended and abysmally presented. Silicon Valley isn't trying to fuck over Millennials. Like a paperclip maximizer, it doesn't care either way.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
> Silicon Valley isn't trying to fuck over Millennials. Like a paperclip maximizer, it doesn't care either way. Exactly. People think other people are responsible and have some evil plan, while this is all Moloch's doing. Everyone follows their icentives perfectly, and the combined system drives us down to hell. http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

zzalpha 12y ago

While I generally agree the article is a hyperbolic polemic (I mean, really, "Third, we can elect leaders who are vocal about holding Silicon Valley accountable for their power over the entire American workforce, including white-collar employees"... what does that even mean?!), the concerns about the "sharing economy" are pretty reasonable. Ultimately, these companies can easily trick folks into undervaluing their own labour. Now, I grant you, the folks involved are free to make that decision. But at minimum it should be an educated decision, and this is where the role of government or organized labour institutions can play an important role. Meanwhile, long-term, we are almost certainly going down the path of increasing automation, and that means we must, as a society, have an open discussion about what that means, and what might need to be put into place to try and mitigate some of the downsides (which is, of course, why the concept of a minimum basic income has re-entered the popular discourse). That's not to say that this trend is a necessarily evil one. We shouldn't be trying to preserve the jobs of the poor buggy whip makers. But it may very well mean a sea change in the way society views work, government assistance and the social safety net, health care, pensions and old age support, etc.

sbisker 12y ago

In fairness, CNN was only started in 1980. In its beginning, it may very well have been much more intelligent and mature. Now that the TV news business model (and cable for that matter) is much more mature, it's a race to the bottom.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
> Now that the TV news business model (and cable for that matter) is much more mature, it's a race to the bottom. It probably isn't a very original insight, but at some point not long ago I realized that every market turns into race to the bottom as it matures.
- undersuit 12y ago
  Same kind of mechanism behind "The Moderator Problem" article, I assume.

nosuchthing 12y ago

So silicon valley is bad _because_ they find more efficient ways to do things? Should we also be upset with anyone who sells a refrigerator, for making all those poor iceblock-expeditions and milkmen obsolete? Does the "\"sharing economy\"" (my quotes around their quotes, for how much they quote that term) mean that by using our cars, homes, tools, etc. more efficiently, and buying less new stuff, we're actually saying "drop dead" to the people who would have manufactured new things? Soon we and our economics will have to confront the massive efficiency boost of our machinery that gives us sufficient production of goods and services for less hours of work. We can let half the world starve, or we can educate and build for the future instead of the next big prophesied exit or fiscal quarter..