spotify: fake artists
meta: fake users
google: fake results
i see a large trend.
Philip K. Dick wrote a short story ("Autofac") in which autonomous, self-replicating factories continue to operate and produce goods long after a global war has wiped out most of humanity, and they eat up all remaining resources on earth in doing so. I worry that there's a system in which a few extremely rich people can continue thriving without involvement of most of humanity, and that they're (knowingly or unknowingly) moving society in that direction. Who needs the commoners when AI and algorithms can simulate them.
IIUC the calculation of GDP doesn't factor in whether the produced goods serve a human need - the system can in theory continue to optimize for ever-increasing GDP while every human on earth starves to death.
IIUC the calculation of GDP doesn’t factor in whether the produced goods serve a human need - the system can in theory continue to optimize for ever-increasing GDP while every human on earth starves to death.
There's an old joke I remember about economists and the GDP.
Two economists are walking through the jungle and come across a gigantic pile of lion scat. One turns to the other and said I'll pay you 100$ to eat a bite of that shit.
Being an economists and 100$ being worth a lot, the guy eats the shit and gets paid.
A little while later they come across a pile of rhino dung. The now richer economist turns to the first and offers 100$ for him to take a bite out of this pile. 100$ is again a lot of money so he does it and eats the shit.
As they're walking along, both picking their teeth, one turns to the other and asks "did we both just eat shit for nothing?" And the other days "of course not, now the GDP of the jungle has increased by 200$!"
Correct; GDP is a dumb measure, and even its inventor said it cannot be used alone.
Yeah we need to be kept employed at around 94% (or at least not 100%) while we starve to death.
Check out The Forever Winter, it incorporates the autofac into its world building.
Who needs the commoners when AI and algorithms can simulate them.
Being rich doesn't exist in a vacuum but only in relation to other people, meaning if only billionaires survive, they're not rich anymore. They need the poor majority.
dead internet
Amazon: fake products AND fake reviews
They see Reddit pulling off having bots steer discourse and they're green with envy. I can't imagine it not being something like this
Well, those "users" will create grassroots trends and movements that users will fo llow and participate in. Imagine the supplies being ready just before the surge in demand appears! Miraculous.
Yep... A Sock Puppeteer's wet dream...
People are still think social media is social. They think that when they post something, all their friends will see it.
In reality what each person sees is determined by the feed algorithm. They can use all the things they know about you and present you content that will press your buttons and change your opinion about topics.
The biggest issue though is to have a proper content. This is where generative AI comes in and this is why owners of social media are so much invested in it.
They basically have platform like the old MSM, except all content is specifically tuned to every person.
The "likes by dead people" story broke in 2012. Ever since, I've been assuming that most likes for the stuff I've been posting, especially from friends I've not talked to in many years, are inorganic and inauthentic. Still I post sometimes because I know a few people actually do care about what I'm up to and we don't meet very often at all. Of course, I strip all EXIF data from my photos first.
Facebook is near unusable now, the feed is 99% fake politically charged shit. I report it all as spam, promoting hate/violence/terrorism, and block the users, but a bunch more just show up the next day.
This is me too. I'm still on Facebook for some family contacts and a couple of useful groups. Years ago I could spend hours a day there. Now I spend maybe 15-30 minutes each morning scrolling for friend/family updates and group content - and hitting "Hide all from ..." on every single bit of unsolicited content. I was reporting and blocking them, but I've decided it probably doesn't achieve anything and it was too many taps/clicks.
Instagram is similar - I used to spend hours there too but now I only go to check if there's progress on one car build I'm following and scroll for maybe 5-10 minutes and I'm out for the day.
Keep doing it! My feed is almost entirely people I know or groups I've chosen. I've blocked probably hundreds of advertisers. Now it's like quarterly or so when they refresh their advertising scheme that I have to block maybe a handful more.
Just stop using bro
The amount of irrelevant content that FB sticks in the default feed is just ridiculous. I'll get a couple posts from friends near the top, but as i scroll the ratio changes until nearly nothing is from friends or FoF. And it's all this garbage content that FB thinks I want to see, like I watch one cake decorating video and then more of them show up and keep showing up, and im not sure how to get rid of them.
What you have to do is create feeds of your friends (and GD FB limits the number of friends you can put in a feed) and browse that instead.
You’ve described my limited FB experience. After refusing to join FB since the 00s, I joined FB a few years ago to get better access to the Marketplace. (Craigslist has gone to shit).
I joined a few groups that interested me and then the constant political bombardment started in the more mainstream groups.
Small niche FB groups are a night and day difference compared to some of the more contemporary groups I’ve seen.
Bot algorithms definitely target large groups with lots of activity. The resulting increased activity due to algorithms just amplify it further.
I just try to stick to my smaller groups to avoid all the mess.
"Spotify managers defended PFC to staff by claiming that the tracks were being used only for background music, so listeners wouldn’t know the difference [...]"
https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machine-liz-pelly-spotify-musicians/
(PFC = "Perfect Fit Content", i. e. Fake Artists)
I have a feeling this quote exemplifies the attitude the management of these platforms have towards their end users, though it's seldom this explicitly formulated.
Friends don’t let friends use Facebook.
Dead internet theory was inevitable, but who thought Facebook themselves would bring it about?
Oh soo looking forward to content out of control! Already dislike the robofarming on YouTube with clips with voiceovers. Imagine nonsense content on Instagram…
I don't care how hard to look at the (real) person is, I don't care if they sound like Janice Joplin, I will take that over the soulless AI read script any day. I did watch a few of these AI chans, as they had stuff I was interested in, but I just can't anymore, tone matters. I want to giggle at the real person mispronouncing words, stumbling (very briefly) over words (editing is a thing). I hope it doesn't get to the point I can no longer tell the difference, at that point I think I just quit the tubes
Well they don't need us anymore, I'm going back to reading books.
"We have 12 billion new sign ups this quarter alone! Now make our shares go up, please"
Ugh. So glad I don't use FB. It's already so enshittified and only getting worse.
The only valid CAPTCHA test when you log in to that uncanny valley/horror: Is Kim Jong Un an idiot? Y/N
10 billion downloads on the Play Store.
You don't think there's more Google accounts + phones + tablets + people changing phones, than population on Earth?
There are, ~~but i cant picture 1 person with the same account over multiple devices~~
I can... It makes sense... Mystery solved
Number of downloads ≠ number of users. People with multiple devices, people who replace devices, and people who have to wipe and reprovision borked devices all inflate the number. I'd guess that, over the period that total has been running, we're looking at 4-5 downloads per user, if not more. Still a ridiculous number, but not that ridiculous.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
