<story><title>Your computer should say what you tell it to say</title><url>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/08/your-computer-should-say-what-you-tell-it-say-1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>clucas</author><text>&amp;gt; as if they already operate effective mind control at systemic scale.&lt;p&gt;If the logical conclusion of your reasoning is a mass mind control conspiracy, you should revisit your assumptions.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; somehow they can bully into submission basically the entire universe&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think anyone is bullying all of society. I think most people just don&amp;#x27;t care. It&amp;#x27;s really not that crazy, no mind control involved. Just good old fashioned apathy and ignorance.</text></item><item><author>nologic01</author><text>&amp;gt; A handful of companies have established chokepoints between buyers and sellers, performers and audiences, workers and employers, as well as families and communities. When those companies refuse to deal with you, your digital life grinds to a halt&lt;p&gt;This short paragraph summarizes the (ex-ante) improbably unusual situation we have drifted into.&lt;p&gt;The negatively affected stakeholders being enumerated are more or less the entire society.&lt;p&gt;These gatekeepers and chokepoint operators do have a few natural allies (the captured politicos, others in direct or indirect payroll, externality-blind markets). Yet somehow they can bully into submission basically the entire universe. With its infinite financial, political, intellectual resources.&lt;p&gt;Rather strange dont you think? It almost as if they already operate effective mind control at systemic scale.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>MSFT_Edging</author><text>Yeah this is a super deep issue but its not mind control.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a mix of middlemen being the only industry that can still extract more profit, and a level of control over markets by Capital that makes most opinions meaningless.&lt;p&gt;Its essentially a return to feudalism, where certain people own vast swaths of productive space, they&amp;#x27;re untouchable in the legal system and real life, and one is forced to work for them.&lt;p&gt;To escape the system means leaving behind most of society depending on your convictions. These groups can kill you physically(Monsanto poisoning people with pesticides) or metaphorically(you lose all connection to the general societal social media) and nothing can be done.&lt;p&gt;For the first one, if you were to suggest violence against those doing violence against you, you&amp;#x27;re essentially told that violence is never the answer, except when its in the form of collateral damage for profit motive.&lt;p&gt;For the latter, its not nearly as life ending, annoying, but not life ending or even altering unless your livelihood is based around grifting on social media. For social media it is ironically democratic, if most people find you to be an annoying asshole, they sorta kick you off so you leave everyone alone. No different than getting kicked out of a bar for demanding to see someone&amp;#x27;s genitals.</text></comment>
<story><title>Your computer should say what you tell it to say</title><url>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/08/your-computer-should-say-what-you-tell-it-say-1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>clucas</author><text>&amp;gt; as if they already operate effective mind control at systemic scale.&lt;p&gt;If the logical conclusion of your reasoning is a mass mind control conspiracy, you should revisit your assumptions.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; somehow they can bully into submission basically the entire universe&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think anyone is bullying all of society. I think most people just don&amp;#x27;t care. It&amp;#x27;s really not that crazy, no mind control involved. Just good old fashioned apathy and ignorance.</text></item><item><author>nologic01</author><text>&amp;gt; A handful of companies have established chokepoints between buyers and sellers, performers and audiences, workers and employers, as well as families and communities. When those companies refuse to deal with you, your digital life grinds to a halt&lt;p&gt;This short paragraph summarizes the (ex-ante) improbably unusual situation we have drifted into.&lt;p&gt;The negatively affected stakeholders being enumerated are more or less the entire society.&lt;p&gt;These gatekeepers and chokepoint operators do have a few natural allies (the captured politicos, others in direct or indirect payroll, externality-blind markets). Yet somehow they can bully into submission basically the entire universe. With its infinite financial, political, intellectual resources.&lt;p&gt;Rather strange dont you think? It almost as if they already operate effective mind control at systemic scale.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nologic01</author><text>I sort of accept the apathy and ignorance argument for individuals (though crowds would get worried, even enraged if they were to receive warnings from institutions they trust, so one still needs to explain why there are none).&lt;p&gt;But the list of affected entities involves far more than addicted consumers. Digital gatekeepers interfere and reshape the information flows which form the fabric on which all economic, cultural and political activity takes place. There is already plenty of evidence of the potentially dramatic impact. Highly trained and responsible individuals in the corporate world or the public sector cannot possibly be ignorant or detached from this extreme and unprecedented concentration of control that affects their very own roles and power bases.&lt;p&gt;I didn&amp;#x27;t really want to speculate as to what perpetuates this (by historical standards) rather extraordinary situation. There is clearly some accommodation taking place. E.g when the entity now known as Meta attempted to introduce a digital currency it was summarily pushed back into its corner.&lt;p&gt;The mind control possibility was a joke, but - mind you - conspiracy theories thrive in the lack of transparency.</text></comment>