by Pops » Mon 11 Jan 2021, 13:40:55
Ibon, I think your daughter is probably right about oldsters. But I think her confidence in her own wisdom and immunity from manipulation is just as worrisome if not more so because she likely gets ALL her info from social media. If she is interacting with AI based internet anyway. 60% of millennials get their news from social media, and guess what? AI based media give you more of what you interact with so there isn't really any "new" news — the model is to keep you engaged so they can serve another ad so they stick with what you "like."
You've undoubtedly read of the "self-radicalised " terrorist. But they aren't really self radicalized are they? The gain their belief at the urgings of influential voices in whatever media. Whether it is some dark web jihadi site or facebook or RT or Limbaugh or 4chan.
The lady who was killed at the Capitol was "self-radicalized" via Qanon, facebook, twitter, etc. She likely saw a meme that struck a nerve, she engaged with it (to use Zuckerberg's terminology) and it was Bloop! down the old rabbit hole she went.
I personally have convinced myself to buy several bags of beans behind stuff I've read online..
People tend to believe what their friends say. Once you find a set of like minded individuals, you start to think of them as your friends and you tend to believe what they say or at least listen to their version of reality. The fault with sites such as this one but especially the big algorithm driven ones, is you can find someone out there who believes whatever crazy shit you can come up with.
This type of forum is different that the AI driven forums. Here you see some ads from the typical google ad server, pretty targeted depending on your settings but obviously ads. On facebook the content itself is targeted to increase engagement, the more clicks/likes/time spent, the more you are served similar content. When you view this page you may get a personalized ad off to the side—when you view a FB page you get something totally unique, tailored just for you, with not only ads but content to keep your attention.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)