Thought Of The Day

If everyone's entitled to their own facts then there's really no need for compromise, no need for people to come together.

Do we want this system for sale to the highest bidder?   For democracy to be completely for sale, where you can reach any mind you want, target a lie to that specific population and create culture wars? Do we want that?

It's a though we have less and less control over who we are and what we truly believe.

One of the problems with Facebook is that, as a tool of persuasion it may be the greatest thing ever created.  Now imagine what that means in the hands of a dictator or an authoritarian.  If you want to control the population of your country there has never been a tool as effective as Facebook.

We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented.

We are all looking out for the moment when technology would overwhelm human strengths and intelligence...But there's this much earlier moment when technology exceeds and overwhelms human weaknesses. This point being crossed is at the root of addiction, polarisation, radicalisation, outrage-ification, vanity-ification, the entire thing.  This is overpowering human nature and this is checkmate on humanity.

What people miss is that AI already runs today's world right now.

We're training and conditioning a whole new generation of people that when we are uncomfortable, or lonely, or uncertain or afraid, we have a digital pacifier for ourselves that is kind of atrophying out own ability to deal with that.

There are only two industries that call their customers 'users': illegal drugs and software.

If something is a tool it genuinely is just sitting there, waiting patiently.  If something is not a tool it's demanding things from you.  It's seducing you.  It's manipulating you.  It wants things from you...We've moved away from having a tools based technology environment to having an addiction-and manipulation - based technology environment.  That's what's changed.   Social media isn't a tool waiting to be used.  It has its own goals and it has its own means of pursuing them by using your psychology against you.

Our attention is the product being sold to advertisers.

If you're not paying for the product, then you are the product.

2017