A controversial proposal from U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to let bird flu naturally spread through poultry farms is raising alarms among scientists – who say the move could be inhumane and dangerous.
A controversial proposal from U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to let bird flu naturally spread through poultry farms is raising alarms among scientists – who say the move could be inhumane and dangerous.
This is solid analysis. Aside from your proposal about banning opaque algorithms, we also don’t really appreciate how powerful it is for any one human to be able to talk to millions of other humans at the same time is (as social creatures). It pathetically shrinks our world view so that it feels like we’re constantly talking about the same 10 people, when there’s so much more of your life that involves the people you work with, the people in your community, your local politics (like who’s deciding the new garbage truck schedule type stuff) that is completely absent from our online discourse.
I’d also say that the marketing and advertising industry has accelerated misinformation, distrust and overconsumption. I see about as few ads as I can figure out how (I know this because whenever I look at someone else’s experience of the same apps and services I use I can’t believe what I’m seeing), and yet I still manage to buy things, hear about things I’m interested in, and research and find out about new products. I spend money in the economy. We literally do not need this industry.
I have also seen friends " youtube feeds" and they are full of videos that I have seen for years and recognized as absolute garbage instantly and never watched, loaded with advertising in the form of “shorts” or a 15 minute commercial for electric scooters (most likely made by amazon, id be curious to know who funds these so called “content creators”) cloaked as a “review of the top 10 best e scooters of 2025” … And rage bait bull shit.
I have tried to explain to these same people how advertising works and that they may be falling victim to the scam.
They immediately get very defensive (I may be a little abrasive in my approach but I should be grabbing their shoulders and shaking the shit out of them while backhanding them across the face.) and they say something like " well you watch youtube videos blah blah". I explain that while I do watch them I am searching for the video and rarely watch anything that I am not actively searching for to gain knowledge about a project in the real world ; that I am hip to how these apps are designed to keep suckers engaged and even change the way a person thinks.
I remember as a kid being fascinated by some advertising, the color schemes , music etc and realizing how powerful they were. That stupid double mint gum commercial is to this day seared into my brain , it will probably blip across the screen when my power gets pulled.
Advertising is a game of minute, magical calcuculations that when done right are imperceptible and like 3 card Monty or the shell game are very good at separating a dummy from their bread.
An overwhelming portion of the public are just receivers awaiting their next mission and they do not want to know any better and get angry when you point it out. Thinking or having curiosity about anything is just not their bag anymore. Advertising is truly evil because if it did not exist the natural tendency wouldn’t be blind consumption.
Man this hits home. I’m so sad that I feel like I get treated like a crazy person for actually talking intentionally I.e. for talking about things that are important to me and what I think is important to who I’m talking to, for choosing my words intentionally and not playing games and picking up or putting out coded implications in my speech, and not wasting time having lengthy conversations to nobodies benefits or worse, that are just causing harm. Setting boundaries has been an important part of surviving while staying as consistent with my values and beliefs as possible, but it gets so lonely and difficult and exhausting, I’m constantly on. If you look through my comment history you’ll see what I mean, I’m frequently leaving long replies requesting to connect with folks who seem to share interests or sometimes just I’m just making what I feel is an important point, and it seems like hardly anyone engages what I’m saying in good faith and actually hears me, and nobody at all actually reaches out
This is very well-stated, and what I was driving at.