LinuxQuestions.org

LinuxQuestions.org (/questions/)
-   General (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/)
-   -   The Man Who Foresaw the Disinformation Superhighway--Another NYT Article (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/the-man-who-foresaw-the-disinformation-superhighway-another-nyt-article-4175690582/)

frankbell 02-15-2021 09:21 PM
The Man Who Foresaw the Disinformation Superhighway--Another NYT Article
 
New York Times reporter Charlie Warzel recently interviewed Michael Goldhaber, who saw 40 years ago the downside of the inner webs. A snippet from his piece:

Quote:
These days, the term (the "attention economy") is a catch-all for the internet and the broader landscape of information and entertainment. Advertising is part of the attention economy. So are journalism and politics and the streaming business and all the social media platforms. But for Mr. Goldhaber, the term was a bit less theoretical: Every single action we take — calling our grandparents, cleaning up the kitchen or, today, scrolling through our phones — is a transaction. We are taking what precious little attention we have and diverting it toward something. This is a zero-sum proposition, he realized. When you pay attention to one thing, you ignore something else.

The idea changed the way he saw the entire world, and it unsettled him deeply. “I kept thinking that attention is highly desirable and that those who want it tend to want as much as they can possibly get,” Mr. Goldhaber, 78, told me over a Zoom call last month after I tracked him down in Berkeley, Calif. He couldn’t shake the idea that this would cause a deepening inequality. “When you have attention, you have power, and some people will try and succeed in getting huge amounts of attention, and they would not use it in equal or positive ways.”

HappyTux 02-15-2021 11:30 PM
Wow, these rocket science articles from the No Sh*t Sherlock department, here is visionary thought. Tomorrow there will be another "break though for the blindingly obvious fact". The oh we did study doubling up on mask doubles the protection, who would have known this one. Or the absolute power, corrupts absolutely conclusion of this visionary in realizing the quest for power is bad, I forget which great thinker in my history class I learned that first observed this.....

Edit; The ring the ring .... Tolkien.... as it pops into my head. He is not even the one for the absolute just another example of it being said ages before this one.

Edit2: 1984 George Orwell the blueprint for misinformation... And foresaw Global Warming a hundred years ago now that one pops in for the company...

Edit3: I just had to know so everyone else may as well too, Lord John Dalberg-Acton in 1887 "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men..." I got it a little short in my recall.

rokytnji 02-16-2021 12:07 AM
People have been around a long time.

Figures re-runs would exist through the ages. Also that long in the tooth folks may predict the future from time to time.

Book of enoch reads like science fiction. Does not surprise me someone somewhere would warn about the above. Edit: Or the time it took to have that tbought enter his head.

Humans are great thinkers.

HappyTux 02-16-2021 12:24 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6220742)
People have been around a long time.

Figures re-runs would exist through the ages. Also that long in the tooth folks may predict the future from time to time.

Book of enoch reads like science fiction. Does not surprise me someone somewhere would warn about the above. Edit: Or the time it took to have that tbought enter his head.

Humans are great thinkers.
Or that they flat out steal them from others claiming they are original thoughts. Everything he claims is straight from Orwell's book.

ondoho 02-16-2021 02:03 PM
Quote:
This is a zero-sum proposition, he realized. When you pay attention to one thing, you ignore something else.

The idea changed the way he saw the entire world, and it unsettled him deeply. “I kept thinking that attention is highly desirable and that those who want it tend to want as much as they can possibly get,” (...) He couldn’t shake the idea that this would cause a deepening inequality. “When you have attention, you have power, and some people will try and succeed in getting huge amounts of attention, and they would not use it in equal or positive ways.”
Working with kids, I see this every day.
Attending online places like this one, I also see this every day.
I feel sorry for the quiet ones that don't get the attention they deserve.

This is an important observation of something that has been around long before the WWW - like, forever.

rigor 02-18-2021 07:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6220742)
...Also that long in the tooth folks may predict the future from time to time....
I'm not quite sure if by mentioning folks with long teeth, you intend to refer to werewolves or vampires, but they are both only myths. :)

rokytnji 02-18-2021 07:41 PM
Quote:
they are both only myths
So were giant squids.You would think Vampires and Werewolves were easy to catch. Identify.
Probably not though. Class war through the ages pretty much would keep them invisible. Not too many investigations solved when it comes to missing home less or street folk. Also. It is not like they would be dumb predators.

Neither are coelacanth a myth any more .

hish2021 02-18-2021 08:19 PM
https://www.urbandictionary.com/defi...%20the%20tooth

rigor 02-18-2021 11:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6221942)
So were giant squids.You would think Vampires and Werewolves were easy to catch. Identify.
Probably not though. Class war through the ages pretty much would keep them invisible. Not too many investigations solved when it comes to missing home less or street folk. Also. It is not like they would be dumb predators.

Neither are coelacanth a myth any more .
Quote:
Originally Posted by hish2021 (Post 6221956)
Please notice the smiley face after my comment. As in, the comment was intended to be humorous. Sorry if it missed the mark.

rokytnji 02-19-2021 03:19 AM
I know. I was having fun defending myths myself

Being a preacher of the 4 stroke gospel.

On topic: Folks may be plagiarizing older ages knowledge to make themselves look smart among their peers.

But seems like the word is now called sampling and is not unknown in these parts or any part of the planet.
Seems pretty accepted also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC4BC-Hxq9g

Just to be fair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmxaT37yeOs

Just examples of sampling. Neither one wrote the main riff. Folks still like it.
Exceptions like folks wound up like 2 dollar watches might not though
Cuz it aint original

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfR_HWMzgyc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfR_HWMzgyc

frankbell 02-21-2021 09:49 PM
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2021/02/07

dugan 02-28-2021 06:55 PM
Ever read Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep"?

It has a computer network that is Usenet with a different name.

Do you know what everyone in the novel called this computer network? "The Net of a thousand lies."


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:26 PM.