It’s time for “truth in labeling” laws like the processed food industry complies with to apply to social media. The life — and democracy — that gets saved could be your own…
I spent all day yesterday knocking on the doors of left-leaning and "independent" low propensity voters (and having phenomenal conversations with a number of them, through a process called "deep canvassing"). But there is simply no way to scale up such an impactful program to combat the monstrosity of the problem illustrated here unless we do as you say. (At the very least; I'm afraid "truth in labeling" might not be far enough at this point - people are too addicted.) Also, would anyone trust the labeling anymore? Or would it just be seen as a corrupt arm of a corrupt and controlling government by those who are predisposed to thinking that way?
I don't see why 100% of the population wouldn't support a demand for the release of algorithms. Has there been any large-scale coordinated efforts to directly pressure tech companies to reveal their process? I would think that both the far right and the far left could get behind that demand, each for their own reasons.
This is the problem underneath of our problems — the base-layer problem — and it has been evident for such a long time. It literally makes me insane that intelligent people refuse to acknowledge it.
Compelling the social media grifters to reveal their algorithms is much like having them change their business models to stop stealing our personal data and content without compensating us for it.
The tech oligarchs already control enough Congressional whores to do whatever they want them to do. Therefore, getting them to reveal their algorithms or making them pay for the information that they take from us is not likely to happen anytime soon as long as money is speech and corporations can exploit the rights of our citizens.
Unless, of course, we replace enough of the public sector decision-makers that serve the kleptocrats with competent officials who will promote our general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity (i.e., fulfill their Constitutional purpose).
|Imagine somebody invented a set of “secret” food additives that would cause you to crave more and more of whatever they were added to, making people who ate them to constantly gain weight until they were in the midst of an obesity crisis, living on the verge of death from stroke, heart attack, dementia, and diabetes."
They did it is called aspartame, it is the essential ingredient in any drink called "Diet" like Coke Pepsi, Snapple. It is addictive and fools the body to thinking you have inbibed sugar, and your insulin leaps into action, taking up the glucose, which makes you hypoglycemic, and you crave sweets, usually in the form of Junk Food like Twinkies, thus it causes obesity. It is also addictive, and that is why Coke and Pepsi push it.
The (anti-)social media and its mandatory "smart" phone are destroying the intellectual and healthy socialization capacities of generations, along with violent video "games", and consistent with our toxic culture of stress, rage, and violence addiction (pro-football, WWE, MMA, prize fighting, nascar, etc., etc. Our climate is in a state of collapse and we are willfully ignoring it. We will get exactly what we deserve. "Next time by fire."
This is not unintentional acts. Like advertising agencies they knew exactly what the outcomes would be or hoped they would be. This is institutional slavery trying to make unworthy actions become unconscious acceptance as normal real rbehavior. Not wanting to pay for functional warehouses they lobby to allow so much rat poop in a pizza. If something affects you, you have a right to know what that is. We must not allow a few individuals to keep all from having the best chance to thrive in society. The reason for this is nobody knows at the time who those that are contributing to society are. We simply have no capacity for the most part to know what contributions are significant. We often value what has no real long term value.
These same tactics have been used by other greedy business groups - big tobacco and oil/gas/coal come to mind immediately. It's time for Congress to do its job in protecting America's democracy from deceptive practices of all kinds on social media. Requiring transparency on algorithms is basic
Excellent analogy Thom! SM must be required to label content so consumers can, at least, determine real from fake, truth from fiction, and facts from lies.
I had a friend that liked to exclaim "Excess in everything, moderation is for monks!". That pretty well sums-up what is happening in our country.
This seems like a good approach to figuring out what to do about social media corporations that insist they should not have ANY regulations. They love their "wild west" and have managed to wrangle us as a herd.
Keep an eye on C-Span today for the SCOTUS case "Federal Gov't & Social Media Content Moderation". They are arguing this case on free speech as I am writing this.
These excesses, craving for ,"real living, feeling alive" in a deadening culture that offers consumption as the greatest satisfaction are all symptoms of a collapsing culture. The eminent fall of the western colonial empire, that as for centuries prioritized opulent wealth for the few and exploitation and distainful disregard for everyone and everything else, is approaching rapidly. We can all feel it. The disregard communicates that your pathetic life means nothing. Thus bread (poisonous unhealthy food) and circuses (social media) that passify, addict the victims who search endlessly for a life of meaning and excitement are harvested for more financial gain. This will not end well. "Don't Look Up."
Yes, food labeling has improved but as an eater who cares about healthful food, it is not nearly enough. Kid’s foods in particular need to be regulated. There is no need to add sugar to their foods at all; gets the addiction started from birth. It has been clearly not enough and being transparent about the algorithms will not solve the problem either. For food, I think a comprehensive public education program including teaching school kids about nutrition might be a possible solution. Perhaps that would work for social media too.
While I agree that social media algorithms need to be made more transparent, it seems you are skirting the devastating implications this legislation has for the democracy you a nd the Democrats are supposedly saving. This bill gives Biden the power to shut down any social media company or platform wihout any Congressional or other advisory oversight. Both Democrats and Republicans are wildly in favor of this, as they were for the Patriot Act and all its reincarnations. Obama lied about the massive scale of NSA spying and prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other president in history. Biden is ready to put Assange in solitary for revealing the truth about not only our hapless military and intelligence agencies but the degree of corruption and ineptitude in the Democratic Party. They want to shut down TikTok because young people use it to coalesce and exhange information on issues like Palestine. Democrats including Nancy Pelosi are accusing pro-Palestinian activists of being agents of Russia and China, incensed that their subjects are finally revolting against them. I would imagine Thom if you are so petrified of fascist Trump that you would be ardently opposing this legislation and calling out the Democrats who overwhelmingly voted in favor of it. Aren't you concerned what would happen if Trump had such power, or is this all a show in the interest of electoral politics?
It is simply NOT TRUE that frequent watchers of porn want more and more extreme content as time goes on. The vast majority of porn users like VARIETY, but that means simply seeing more/different performers doing roughly the same sexual activity that the users already enjoy. People who enjoy watching hetero intercourse do not one day start to crave bondage/sadism videos. It just doesn't work that way.
Thom's points are all valid. However, he overlooks the threat that any social media software presents to national security. TikTok can feasibly infect its software using updates which could include the ability to monitor communications among national security personnel dumb enough to have foreign social media apps on their phone or PC. Not only might China (or whomever) be able to access defense secrets, they might also me able to rip off our best-selling technology and capture some of our markets. For all we know, they might already be doing that.
Maybe CIA, NSA, DOD already have detected something like this. Thanks to COVID, our government is sadder but wiser about how to anticipate people rejecting government edicts. Thus, buying TikTok might be more effective than vaccinating all internet access again foreign spying because there will always be careless antivaxxers - some of them are even running for president of the United States.
One of the reasons I love Spoutible is that there is NO algorithm. Ads were recently added to help pay for maintaining Spoutible's social media presence but I can't tell you what they are as they don't intrude with my presence on the site.
Years ago, we were told that we could believe/trust anything we saw on TV due to "truth in advertising" and the high standards set by the FCC. Of course, that was pure garbage but we believed it. I have shared today's Report with everyone I can think of and, of course, on Spoutible. People need to wake up and realize privacy is a thing of the past, conglomerates are tracking their every move and that they have given up control to the X's and FB's of the world. It's a sad state of affairs, to be sure. But it can be turned around if only people would be willing to give up a bit of "comfort" and say ENOUGH!
Regarding this article- tell these co to release the algorithms or your priviledge to use the airwaves will be revoked and your corp charter revoked. These corp are way beyond three strikes your out.. Jon R Schulz
While not an immediate solution, the possibilities offered by light based communication- LIFi are real and doable. Please read a book by Gunter Pauli LIFi: communication at the speed of light and the (re) emergence of the internet of the people, Jon R Schulz
I spent all day yesterday knocking on the doors of left-leaning and "independent" low propensity voters (and having phenomenal conversations with a number of them, through a process called "deep canvassing"). But there is simply no way to scale up such an impactful program to combat the monstrosity of the problem illustrated here unless we do as you say. (At the very least; I'm afraid "truth in labeling" might not be far enough at this point - people are too addicted.) Also, would anyone trust the labeling anymore? Or would it just be seen as a corrupt arm of a corrupt and controlling government by those who are predisposed to thinking that way?
I don't see why 100% of the population wouldn't support a demand for the release of algorithms. Has there been any large-scale coordinated efforts to directly pressure tech companies to reveal their process? I would think that both the far right and the far left could get behind that demand, each for their own reasons.
This is the problem underneath of our problems — the base-layer problem — and it has been evident for such a long time. It literally makes me insane that intelligent people refuse to acknowledge it.
Compelling the social media grifters to reveal their algorithms is much like having them change their business models to stop stealing our personal data and content without compensating us for it.
The tech oligarchs already control enough Congressional whores to do whatever they want them to do. Therefore, getting them to reveal their algorithms or making them pay for the information that they take from us is not likely to happen anytime soon as long as money is speech and corporations can exploit the rights of our citizens.
Unless, of course, we replace enough of the public sector decision-makers that serve the kleptocrats with competent officials who will promote our general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity (i.e., fulfill their Constitutional purpose).
|Imagine somebody invented a set of “secret” food additives that would cause you to crave more and more of whatever they were added to, making people who ate them to constantly gain weight until they were in the midst of an obesity crisis, living on the verge of death from stroke, heart attack, dementia, and diabetes."
They did it is called aspartame, it is the essential ingredient in any drink called "Diet" like Coke Pepsi, Snapple. It is addictive and fools the body to thinking you have inbibed sugar, and your insulin leaps into action, taking up the glucose, which makes you hypoglycemic, and you crave sweets, usually in the form of Junk Food like Twinkies, thus it causes obesity. It is also addictive, and that is why Coke and Pepsi push it.
The (anti-)social media and its mandatory "smart" phone are destroying the intellectual and healthy socialization capacities of generations, along with violent video "games", and consistent with our toxic culture of stress, rage, and violence addiction (pro-football, WWE, MMA, prize fighting, nascar, etc., etc. Our climate is in a state of collapse and we are willfully ignoring it. We will get exactly what we deserve. "Next time by fire."
This is not unintentional acts. Like advertising agencies they knew exactly what the outcomes would be or hoped they would be. This is institutional slavery trying to make unworthy actions become unconscious acceptance as normal real rbehavior. Not wanting to pay for functional warehouses they lobby to allow so much rat poop in a pizza. If something affects you, you have a right to know what that is. We must not allow a few individuals to keep all from having the best chance to thrive in society. The reason for this is nobody knows at the time who those that are contributing to society are. We simply have no capacity for the most part to know what contributions are significant. We often value what has no real long term value.
These same tactics have been used by other greedy business groups - big tobacco and oil/gas/coal come to mind immediately. It's time for Congress to do its job in protecting America's democracy from deceptive practices of all kinds on social media. Requiring transparency on algorithms is basic
Excellent analogy Thom! SM must be required to label content so consumers can, at least, determine real from fake, truth from fiction, and facts from lies.
I had a friend that liked to exclaim "Excess in everything, moderation is for monks!". That pretty well sums-up what is happening in our country.
This seems like a good approach to figuring out what to do about social media corporations that insist they should not have ANY regulations. They love their "wild west" and have managed to wrangle us as a herd.
Keep an eye on C-Span today for the SCOTUS case "Federal Gov't & Social Media Content Moderation". They are arguing this case on free speech as I am writing this.
These excesses, craving for ,"real living, feeling alive" in a deadening culture that offers consumption as the greatest satisfaction are all symptoms of a collapsing culture. The eminent fall of the western colonial empire, that as for centuries prioritized opulent wealth for the few and exploitation and distainful disregard for everyone and everything else, is approaching rapidly. We can all feel it. The disregard communicates that your pathetic life means nothing. Thus bread (poisonous unhealthy food) and circuses (social media) that passify, addict the victims who search endlessly for a life of meaning and excitement are harvested for more financial gain. This will not end well. "Don't Look Up."
Yes, food labeling has improved but as an eater who cares about healthful food, it is not nearly enough. Kid’s foods in particular need to be regulated. There is no need to add sugar to their foods at all; gets the addiction started from birth. It has been clearly not enough and being transparent about the algorithms will not solve the problem either. For food, I think a comprehensive public education program including teaching school kids about nutrition might be a possible solution. Perhaps that would work for social media too.
While I agree that social media algorithms need to be made more transparent, it seems you are skirting the devastating implications this legislation has for the democracy you a nd the Democrats are supposedly saving. This bill gives Biden the power to shut down any social media company or platform wihout any Congressional or other advisory oversight. Both Democrats and Republicans are wildly in favor of this, as they were for the Patriot Act and all its reincarnations. Obama lied about the massive scale of NSA spying and prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other president in history. Biden is ready to put Assange in solitary for revealing the truth about not only our hapless military and intelligence agencies but the degree of corruption and ineptitude in the Democratic Party. They want to shut down TikTok because young people use it to coalesce and exhange information on issues like Palestine. Democrats including Nancy Pelosi are accusing pro-Palestinian activists of being agents of Russia and China, incensed that their subjects are finally revolting against them. I would imagine Thom if you are so petrified of fascist Trump that you would be ardently opposing this legislation and calling out the Democrats who overwhelmingly voted in favor of it. Aren't you concerned what would happen if Trump had such power, or is this all a show in the interest of electoral politics?
It is simply NOT TRUE that frequent watchers of porn want more and more extreme content as time goes on. The vast majority of porn users like VARIETY, but that means simply seeing more/different performers doing roughly the same sexual activity that the users already enjoy. People who enjoy watching hetero intercourse do not one day start to crave bondage/sadism videos. It just doesn't work that way.
Thom's points are all valid. However, he overlooks the threat that any social media software presents to national security. TikTok can feasibly infect its software using updates which could include the ability to monitor communications among national security personnel dumb enough to have foreign social media apps on their phone or PC. Not only might China (or whomever) be able to access defense secrets, they might also me able to rip off our best-selling technology and capture some of our markets. For all we know, they might already be doing that.
Maybe CIA, NSA, DOD already have detected something like this. Thanks to COVID, our government is sadder but wiser about how to anticipate people rejecting government edicts. Thus, buying TikTok might be more effective than vaccinating all internet access again foreign spying because there will always be careless antivaxxers - some of them are even running for president of the United States.
One of the reasons I love Spoutible is that there is NO algorithm. Ads were recently added to help pay for maintaining Spoutible's social media presence but I can't tell you what they are as they don't intrude with my presence on the site.
Years ago, we were told that we could believe/trust anything we saw on TV due to "truth in advertising" and the high standards set by the FCC. Of course, that was pure garbage but we believed it. I have shared today's Report with everyone I can think of and, of course, on Spoutible. People need to wake up and realize privacy is a thing of the past, conglomerates are tracking their every move and that they have given up control to the X's and FB's of the world. It's a sad state of affairs, to be sure. But it can be turned around if only people would be willing to give up a bit of "comfort" and say ENOUGH!
Regarding this article- tell these co to release the algorithms or your priviledge to use the airwaves will be revoked and your corp charter revoked. These corp are way beyond three strikes your out.. Jon R Schulz
While not an immediate solution, the possibilities offered by light based communication- LIFi are real and doable. Please read a book by Gunter Pauli LIFi: communication at the speed of light and the (re) emergence of the internet of the people, Jon R Schulz