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Is Facebook Ignoring Our Humanity? (qz.com)
"Facebook really is evil," writes Quartz reporter Nikhil Sonnad. "Not on purpose. In the banal kind of way. Underlying all of Facebook's screw-ups is a bumbling obliviousness to real humans..." An anonymous reader quotes Sonnad's essay:
The imperative to "connect people" lacks the one ingredient essential for being a good citizen: Treating individual human beings as sacrosanct. To Facebook, the world is not made up of individuals, but of connections between them. The billions of Facebook accounts belong not to "people" but to "users," collections of data points connected to other collections of data points on a vast Social Network, to be targeted and monetized by computer programs.
There are certain things you do not in good conscience do to humans. To data, you can do whatever you like.... With Facebook, "life is turned into a database," writes technologist Jaron Lanier in his 2010 book You Are Not a Gadget... Silicon Valley culture has come to accept as certain, Lanier writes, that "all of reality, including humans, is one big information system".... The problem, says Lanier, is that there is nothing special about humans in this information system. Every data point is treated equally, irrespective of how humans experience it. The essay argues Facebook's value system "has diverged from that of the rest of society," adding that Facebook "seems to be blind to the possibility that it could be used for ill."
Facebook needs to "check their instinctive technological optimism against the realities of human life. Absent human considerations, Facebook will continue to bring thoughtless, banal harm to the world."
There are certain things you do not in good conscience do to humans. To data, you can do whatever you like.... With Facebook, "life is turned into a database," writes technologist Jaron Lanier in his 2010 book You Are Not a Gadget... Silicon Valley culture has come to accept as certain, Lanier writes, that "all of reality, including humans, is one big information system".... The problem, says Lanier, is that there is nothing special about humans in this information system. Every data point is treated equally, irrespective of how humans experience it. The essay argues Facebook's value system "has diverged from that of the rest of society," adding that Facebook "seems to be blind to the possibility that it could be used for ill."
Facebook needs to "check their instinctive technological optimism against the realities of human life. Absent human considerations, Facebook will continue to bring thoughtless, banal harm to the world."
Mark Zuckerberg is a cylon.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Maybe our modern society places too much emphasis on the individual. Maybe that's why we have a society full of selfish pricks who all think they're the center of the universe.
Why do I get the idea that the word "harm" actually means "political ideas I disagree with and believe should be censored"? (reads essay: keywords, Trump, TEH ROOSHINS, Nazis) Yup. Pretty much this.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Or maybe it was war-torn feudalism or imperialism that is ethically superior?
Female nipples. Or ass.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
I have no Facebook or other social media account.
Don't need it. Don't want it. Try it yourself. You'll be happier.
"Oh, the humanity." (insert scene of airship crashing...)
Seriously though why so many Facebook stories?
but are you human? Do fake accounts make facebook any money? Is the -20% market cap the same as when twitter lost -20% market cap after getting rid of fake accounts?
Facebook is messed up because of humans. Facebook could care less about anything but keeping user interested enough to feed the data to Facebook to sell it as a commodity. Without users as a commodity Facebook is done.
Yes, Facebook provides an advertising and networking platform for fake experts in real fields, and "real" experts in fake fields. Astroology, cryystal healing, scientology, and my personal favorite right now, the "Center for Self Leadership". That's right: this fake "psychotherapy" organization charges $1300 for a weekend seminar but spews, at the same time how "training means nothing" and provides no certification, no evaluation of its students, and encourages them to commit fraud on their suckers by practicing "psycherapy" with no verifiable training, no degree, no clinical experience, and a willingness to commit fraud by explaining to their victims how to spend their "FSA" medical funds on these bozos. I've encountered 3 of them in the last few years, and they *all* do most of their advertising on Facebook.
Frankly, I'd prefer Scientologists: at least they've been convicted more times so it's easier to expose them. But these bozos.... well, they're engaged in the same "pretend you're trained, make stuff up to profit yourself, and spew really bad regurgitated split personality theories from 100 years ago into your victims brains".
Facebook is a corporation. They care about money.
Our humanity? Only as far as it makes them money.
Ethics? Only the minimum necessary to keep making money.
How the hell is this "news for nerds"? Nerds already know this crap.
What's next? "McDonald's: cheap and fast but ordinary"
To Facebook, every data point is not treated equally. Some are given more weight than others, based on connectivity, and response from others to something like a post.
Facebook and other things like it act as a substrate on top of which humans are meant to provide understanding and human response. It's not that Facebook the system does not care, it's that Facebook is not in the role to care - in fact wouldn't Facebook be a thousand times MORE creepy if it actually tried to react in a human way to what people posted? Instead it leads people say things and lets others react to that, giving them as much range as it can while trying to balance an interface that doesn't turn away too many people.
Facebook as an entity is just trying to ride just outside that wave of connection and emotion, gleaning enough understanding to help advertisers understand you. If that is a good thing or not is a whole different debate than arguing "Facebook is ignoring our humanity" when it should be doing no such thing to begin with.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
But before they do, please post readable postings.
... AI.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
If you don't like Facebook's offerings then offer something better.
Caution: Contents under pressure
perhaps this is more of a question of the people we've become and how we choose to use our tools, rather than a question if the programs we write in and of themselves are inherently evil.
Fuck you!!!
Tongue load pucker
Right about now
Butt load sucker
Right about now
(Repeat)
Misinformation has been a problem since before humans could talk. The ancient Romans and Greeks were masters of oratory, persuasion and 'fake news'. Propaganda. Fascists, Trumps, Orwell. Technologies and Media channels will come and go. What to do? Stop complaining about the channel du jour, and learn to think clearly all by yourself. That way, if someone charming tells you to put your head in the oven, you will work out for yourself not to! It's liberating. If you don't know where to start, try reading Plato or Aristotle, or here's an excellent book: 'The Art of Thinking Clearly', by Rolf Dobelli. Or just read. Then ponder, analyze, think. But don't absorb information mindlessly and then say 'The author misled me'. You don't do it with ads, do you? Look at information as a an input, source, not as an automatic truth.
"Humanity?"
Give me a break, you're just complaining that no one cares at Facebook that there were some Russian ads on Facebook that might have influenced the election for president. Sure, it sucks to be an immigrant right now, and a whole bunch of people here without visas are experiencing why they should have got one in the first place, but to accuse a corporation of lacking humanity smacks of a complete failure to understand how multinational corporations operate. No, they don't care about you. No, they don't care if their activities are harmful to the common good.
Does it make money? Is it legal? That's the extent of the ethical calculus.
...not the cause. Yes, it emphasises and augments some of the dehumanising aspects of capitalism but that's simply because it's part of our capitalist, consumerist, hyper-individualist, isolated, lonely cultures, and Facebook simply reflects our cultures' values. We're no different to Google, Amazon, Verizon, Exxon, Monsanto, health insurance companies, banks, etc..
Capitalism reduces 99% of us to labour and cost data points.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
EVERYTHING Fuckbook does is based on a purpose. Hell they have user groups that study the effectiveness of user groups studying the effectiveness of usergroups. No change happens without being vetted internally.
Nice try though Zukerberg. You're still a tool.
that uses free social interactions as bait to place and sell more ads.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Let's think about our 'humanity' ... Finished? For all of recorded history and probably beyond we've killed each other as fast as technology would allow. We are not nice by any standard. Millions worldwide are homeless, hungry, diseased. We help them when there's profit to be had. The mass of humanity is turned inward, sometimes for survival, sometimes for Twitter or YouTube. I can't think of any mammal that has the same disdain for others of its species.
Yes, there are organizations and individuals who care. Teachers & firefighters & medical heroes. But there are also politicians, corporate executives and presidents who don't much care for anyone else.
Our 'humanity' leaves much to be desired. Don't blame Facebook.
...omphaloskepsis often...
Facebook? What's that. Is it something you use when you don't have a real life?
The whole fucking tech industry ignores our humanity. Flipping people coins for doing things in the 'gig' economy. Tesla and their ignorance of human inability to maintain attention while doing nothing for long periods of time. The list goes on and on, and then we get into political trends.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The idea in this story is merely Facebook's plausible deniability. They want you to think that they were so dumb they let this happen but this was exactly how they planned it.
Facebook is a true reflection of humanity, as is reddit.
Disgusting perverted and immoral, this is humanity!!
As long as I can still worship Boobies, who cares !
Trump is an idiot and has a long list of other shortcomings you never like to see in your President. But as bad as he is he was still able to beat Hillary. What does that say about the caliber of his competitors? And his competitors includes both the democrats and republicans.
The US needed a President like Trump. The minute he won the election the people who funneled millions of dollars into getting Hillary elected got know ROI's. Those funding Trumps Republican challengers in the primaries also got nothing in return. In other words a lot of rich people wasted their money. On the world stage the US had become to predictable and both it's enemies and allies used that predictability when contemplating their actions. Russia knew they could invade the Ukraine and the worst thing the US would do is pass a few sanctions. China knew they were free to build military outpost in the middle to the largest trade route in the world and the US response would be to sail a destroyers past their bases and wave. Trump came on the scene and threw that predictability out the window and upsetting the status quo. And look at the world around you and see just what the status quo has done for the world. Trump inherited all the current problems from his predecessors. In the end maybe his unorthodox approach to things is what the US and the world needs.
Ignore our humanity? Facebook exploits our humanity. Their whole business strategy is to use psychological features that improved survival rates in prehistory to get users to expose ourselves to advertisements.
It's caring about stupidity and money.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Well, why we are on the subject of unsubstantiated, random accusations... My impression, on the other hand, is that Quartz is evil on purpose.
Speaking as someone outside the US, it says far more about the caliber of the voters than of the candidates, fortunately his voters were a minority so there's still some hope for the US. The policy of child stealing and caging says everything we need to know about the current US regime.
Slashdot likes posting them.
Trump is an idiot and has a long list of other shortcomings you never like to see in your President. But as bad as he is he was still able to beat Hillary. What does that say about the caliber of his competitors? And his competitors includes both the democrats and republicans.
Nothing much, it reflects the lack of a meaningful election system because people are dogmatically locked into their partisan choice without real option besides one or the other. That's how it has been for years, as anyone with wit has known.
The US needed a President like Trump. The minute he won the election the people who funneled millions of dollars into getting Hillary elected got know ROI's. Those funding Trumps Republican challengers in the primaries also got nothing in return. In other words a lot of rich people wasted their money. On the world stage the US had become to predictable and both it's enemies and allies used that predictability when contemplating their actions. Russia knew they could invade the Ukraine and the worst thing the US would do is pass a few sanctions. China knew they were free to build military outpost in the middle to the largest trade route in the world and the US response would be to sail a destroyers past their bases and wave. Trump came on the scene and threw that predictability out the window and upsetting the status quo.
What? You believe that Trump would do anything different? That's exactly what he has done, with the added bluster and posturing that makes him look dumb to those not blinded by the need to think he has achieved anything.
And look at the world around you and see just what the status quo has done for the world. Trump inherited all the current problems from his predecessors. In the end maybe his unorthodox approach to things is what the US and the world needs.
There's nothing unorthodox to his approach, and despite all the claims he makes, he has no more solved any of those problems than he won in a landslide of any kind.
Sorry, but Trump is just the status quo with added corruption and incompetence.
One word: FOSS
Well okay, technically it's four words.
yourâ(TM)e arenâ(TM)t anyoneâ(TM)s
Not only does Zuckerbook not treat humans like human beings, it treats them intentionally as objects to be manipulated, and 'revenue streams' to be collected on, and anything that stands in the way of that is not allowed -- unless they're faced with a legal challenge that might cost them money, in which case they'll change how they treat their 'individual revenue stream generator objects' so they continue to make as much money as possible.
The article does hit one nail on the head though: Zuckerbook is EVIL. As much as I say it, I can't say it enough: Everyone needs to LEAVE FACEBOOK, permanently. Rest assured, nothing of value will be lost -- and you'll gain so much back that's been taken from you.
Shut up you faggot shill INCEL deplorable uneducated cis-hetero gaylord trumptard Russian NAZI alt-right bolshevik anti-Semitic Zionist cock-gobbling fascist mansplaining SJW shitfucker MRA trailer trash inbred lesbian Hillaryist feminazi ghetto alt-left white supremacist PEDOPHILE wetback spic mick wop nlgger chink kike redneck puritanical crackhead liberturdian commie TRAITOR!
Tell us more, Fritz! Europa uber alles!
Um, it's really ALL faceless, soulless, blood-sucking, parasitic, global-conglomerate, monolithic, for-profit, multinational corporations that are ignoring our humanity. 'S not just Facebook, though they're clearly leaders in the field of ignoring our humanity.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
It's not just facebook. It is prevalent in any design process but looks to be especially bad in software.
Example: I use a popular 3rd party launcher on my android phone. They made an update and for some reason several features that I was using do not exist anymore. It all looks different even though I changed no settings myself and I can't get it to look the same as it was.
Why would developers do that. That seems to be a blatant disregard of your users. Maybe it is driven by monetary designs: you have to pay to get your old version back, maybe it is ignorance of what your users really use, maybe it is stupidity
Whatever reason there is behind it, it is annoying. You keep having to switch between apps because the one you use and like just did a 180 and it looks crap now.