fakescience

8 ms·

1.
by fakescience 8y ago
Likely referring to this article [1]. However, the claim that they made "hundreds of thousands of people fall into a depression" is pretty exaggerated - FB demonstrated it could influence the mood of users via changes to the algor
2.
by fakescience 8y ago
Yeah, I think we have a fundamental difference in our beliefs about the effectiveness of violence (i.e. assassination via drones) to promote world peace. Hard to know what wars have been prevented via assassination, but if you might look in
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by fakescience 8y ago
Yes, the arguments you outline would also be ways to reduce cognitive dissonance as well ("if we didn't do it, others would"). I don't think Google would stop all wars by not contributing to this project. But Google, and
4.
by fakescience 8y ago
Do you think anyone in a position of political power truly thinks of themselves as a "thug"? I imagine, in their own ways, they think they are doing a "just" and noble deed. Much like the way you characterize America&#x2
5.
by fakescience 8y ago
To any Google Employees reading this. Don't worry! There are SEVERAL ways you can reduce any cognitive dissonance you might be experiencing as you read more about the evils your company is committing : + rationalization of your own beh
6.
by fakescience 8y ago
Users are the only people who will be able to set limits on Facebook's power, and the only way to do that will be to form some kind of union to organize collective action. Feel like there's a learned helplessness effect, though, t
7.
by fakescience 9y ago
never going to happen, unless users organize some kind of collective action. Imagine how quickly Facebook would start to make changes if a bulk of users deactivated accounts in protest, similar to a strike [1]. Easy to do in theory, hard to
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by fakescience 9y ago
agreed. Facebook users need to organize. Easy to do in theory, hard to do in practice. [1] https://medium.com/@oddbert2000/call-for-a-facebook-users-st...
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by fakescience 9y ago
Doubt that lawmakers will really protect users. Think the only way to lead to substantive change would be for users to take collective action through protests [1]. Imagine how quickly the company would take action to make real changes to us
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by fakescience 9y ago
you're correct that there's a similar process in real life as online. the issues are that online (a) these effects are more automated and distributed online than in real-life (Toyama nicely summarizes this as "technology as a
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by fakescience 9y ago
yes, and just like we would want people to design roads in ways that limit driver deaths, we should insist that people design facebook in ways that limit negative consequences inherent to social networks. the problem is that facebook (a) is
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by fakescience 9y ago
Call for a facebook user strike on May 1st. #May1FBstrike https://medium.com/@oddbert2000/call-for-a-facebook-users-st...
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by fakescience 9y ago
Read this earlier today. I was struck by the idea of "unionizing" users to help them take action against corporate interests who ultimately control user data. This makes particular sense when you think about data as a new form of
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Why Join an Internet Users Union?(medium.com)
1 points by fakescience 9y ago|0 comments
15.
by fakescience 9y ago
It's not possible to be a "meritocracy" based simply on hiring "the best" without accounting for all the institutional problems when it comes to sexism and sex discrimination that give men the ability to more easily