How to Fix Facebook—Before It Fixes Us

[BIGUN 1,314]

This is article is a long, but important read no matter which side of the aisle your on. You'll get a pop-up box asking you to subscribe, or enter email, or facebook to gain acess, but you can just "x" out of the box and read the article.

An early investor explains why the social media platform’s business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.

Quote

by Roger McNamee MAGAZINE

A month later I noticed an unrelated but equally disturbing news item. A consulting firm was revealed to be scraping data about people interested in the Black Lives Matter protest movement and selling it to police departments. Only after that news came out did Facebook announce that it would cut off the company’s access to the information. That got my attention. Here was a bad actor violating Facebook’s terms of service, doing a lot of harm, and then being slapped on the wrist. Facebook wasn’t paying attention until after the damage was done. I made a note to myself to learn more.

Meanwhile, the flood of anti-Clinton memes continued all spring. I still didn’t understand what was driving it, except that the memes were viral to a degree that didn’t seem to be organic. And, as it turned out, something equally strange was happening across the Atlantic.

When citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, most observers were stunned. The polls had predicted a victory for the “Remain” campaign. And common sense made it hard to believe that Britons would do something so obviously contrary to their self-interest.

SOURCE: https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-march-2018/how-to-fix-facebook-before-it-fixes-us/

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[wmw999 2,447]

Thanks for posting that. It confirms and organizes some of what I've been thinking with way more knowledge and context than I could provide.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[gowlerk 2,192]

Yes, much longer read than my FB shortened attention span usually allows for. But worth every one of the 9 minutes spent.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[BIGUN 1,314]

wmw999

Thanks for posting that. It confirms and organizes some of what I've been thinking with way more knowledge and context than I could provide.

Wendy P.

You and me both. I wasn't on facebook very long and that was at the insistence of a few close friends. In fact, it was a grand total of 36 hours before I deleted my account. In that 36 hours, I observed an exponential division among friends over topics that would usually be discussed over a beer and respect for a differing opinion and still friends the next day (not result in a "unfriending").

I had been geo-tagged twice (they didn't have the opt-out setting yet) and I feared that 1) any sense of "personal" would be lost forever (anything posted became their intellectual property according to the ToS), and 2) a deluge of posts that aligned with one side or the other in a childish game of, "Told you so."

For the past few years, I've been predicting the end of the social media era; but I do think that is a five-year proposition from today at best. The division between the two parties is only growing wider and for that I blame social media. The engineers at facebook and other social media platforms may not be responsible for "fake news," but that doesn't mean they don't have blood on their hands.

I truly believe (maybe misguided hope) that someday in the future, people will look back on the era of social media and say, "What the hell were we thinking?"

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[wmw999 2,447]

Quote

The engineers at facebook and other social media platforms may not be responsible for "fake news," but that doesn't mean they don't have blood on their hands.

It's not that they were "only following orders," it's that they were given cool tools, and permission to use them to see how far they could go technically. Then it's up to the money-makers to decide how to use those tools.
All those people and genetic engineering -- this is your future. Pandora is out of the box. Pandora WILL get out of any box; to me, the nuclear proliferation is actually an example of how something can be controlled multi-laterally with a generalized realization of just how destructive it is.
Social media is just so much smaller and more insidious, you don't see it until it's snuck way up on you. I'm still on FB, but I can control the habit . Also, I'm a way bigger postwhore here (and wish forums like this would come back in style -- irritating as they can be, they allow for much better discussion).

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[billvon 2,991]

>For the past few years, I've been predicting the end of the social media era; but
>I do think that is a five-year proposition from today at best.

I think it will continue to grow. And rather than it adapting to the demands of its users, I think humanity will adapt to it. It almost certainly won't be in its present form (screens and keyboards? Ancient!) but it will become ever more pervasive, to the point that people will feel crippled without it.

[BIGUN 1,314]

Well, that is definitely the other side of the coin, Bill.

And, I believe your statement, "...become ever more pervasive, to the point that people will feel crippled without it" is going on right now. You'll understand that I hope that I'm more right than you.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[Bob_Church 7]

I mentioned this in another thread but it's even more appropriate to this one. Find, borrow or download the episode O.B.I.T. from the 1963 series "The Outer Limits". At the time it would have been just another "what will they think of next" sci-fi show but now it seems downright prescient. If it weren't for being in black and white, cheap props and dead actors you'd think it was made very recently.
It really is trip to watch it now.

[billvon 2,991]

>I mentioned this in another thread but it's even more appropriate to this one.
>Find, borrow or download the episode O.B.I.T. from the 1963 series "The Outer
>Limits". At the time it would have been just another "what will they think of next"
>sci-fi show but now it seems downright prescient.

You want to read something even more chilling? Find a copy of "the machine stops." It discusses how human society evolves into a pure social media - people stay indoors all day, becoming big tubs of lard. They no longer talk about what happens in the real world - all the discussions are over what other people said, using a device they call The Machine.

"Few traveled in these days, for, thanks to the advance of science, the earth was exactly alike all over. Rapid intercourse, from which the previous civilization had hoped so much, had ended by defeating itself. What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury?"

"'Beware of first- hand ideas!' exclaimed one of the most advanced of them. 'First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by life and fear, and on this gross foundation who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation. Do not learn anything about this subject of mine - the French Revolution. Learn instead what I think that Enicharmon thought Urizen thought Gutch thought Ho-Yung thought Chi-Bo-Sing thought Lafca thought Carlyle thought Mirabeau said about the French Revolution. Through the medium of these ten great minds, the blood that was shed at Paris and the windows that were broken at Versailles will be clarified to an idea which you may employ most profitably in your daily lives.' "

And the most chilling thing about that was that it was written over 100 years ago.

[normiss 800]

I LOVE when we go camping somewhere outside of cell coverage.

[RMK 3]

Excellent article. I liked the point:

"The result is that everyone sees a different version of the internet tailored to create the illusion that everyone else agrees with them."

I too detest Facebook. Online, I'm more about privacy than sharing all my personal details - I just don't understand it. However, you end up with scenarios such as people putting information for an event only on Facebook thus requiring a login. So I created a fake name with full fake contact details (I wonder how many of Facebooks user numbers are actually fakes like myself).

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

[kallend 2,027]

normiss

I LOVE when we go camping somewhere outside of cell coverage.

I'm going on a Caribbean scuba live-aboard outside of cell coverage next week.
:-)

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[wmw999 2,447]

I just did a tour of the google museum. Interestingly enough, it's on Alta Vista avenue... that's what I used for searches before I switched to google.
I lied -- it's Alta Ave. I just imagined the Vista

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[wan2doit 6]

Maybe this article can be preserved here somehow so it is easily accessible for future interested folks.

[gowlerk 2,192]

This problem may be self limiting. I'm spending less and less time on FB lately. It is becoming boring and predictable. Same things over and over again.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[billvon 2,991]

>This problem may be self limiting. I'm spending less and less time on FB lately. It is
>becoming boring and predictable. Same things over and over again.

FB is indeed becoming "old technology" and something will soon supplant it. However that doesn't solve the problem; the next generation of technology will have all the same risks and temptations.

[ryoder 1,590]

Bob_Church

I mentioned this in another thread but it's even more appropriate to this one. Find, borrow or download the episode O.B.I.T. from the 1963 series "The Outer Limits". At the time it would have been just another "what will they think of next" sci-fi show but now it seems downright prescient. If it weren't for being in black and white, cheap props and dead actors you'd think it was made very recently.
It really is trip to watch it now.

"If you have nothing to hid, you have nothing to fear."

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4jov9q

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[NewGuy2005 53]

Just finished reading this. Pretty scary.