> Regulate ads to target content, not users.<p>This. 1000x.<p>At it's core this is essentially like sponsorship. Anecdote : I've always found sponsored content more useful than the ads that ad networks show me and they are also not creepy like traditional ads. Eg- I search for strawberries on google, click through a few links. Separately I visit a tech blog to learn about how to monitor a VPS, guess what shows up on a site about servers and software? Strawberries! Creepy as f*uck and completely out of place.<p>Do you think an ad network that focuses on targeting content rather than users will work? Are there any such networks already? If not, it's time to build one.
Typical 'idlewords :). Lots of good points intermingled with unwarranted jabs at Elon Musk, X-risk and anti-aging efforts. I suppose the latter are just signalling, but they do detract from the point he's making.<p>The points about tech running amok with the surveillance capitalism are spot on. I do have some doubts about other parts though; here are they in somewhat random order:<p>-- Problem solving.<p>I'm not buying this villifying of tech world for trying to avoid the "dirty political work". In fact, I believe it's a good approach. Turning a problem into a political issue pretty much guarantees that it won't be solved as people take sides and then invent arguments to rationalize their positions. Just look at the climate change - since it became politicized, it's close to impossible to do anything in the area (Trump's election in the US is not helping either). The only way to address it now is by ignoring the democratic process altogether - by doing research, developing new technologies, and hoping for the market forces to sort things out.<p>Moreover, why does the tech industry is always blamed for trying to avoid political work? Like, are there no human beings who don't work in tech industry that could try a different approach? Why is tech industry expected to do everything, and then at the same time gets called out for hubris?<p>Related, on tech and life extension efforts. I call the Comet King principle - "somebody has to and no one else will". Why is nobody else besides tech billionaires interested in putting serious resources into solving that problem?<p>-- Poland.<p>Is it an evil surveillance state now? I live there and I haven't noticed it.<p>-- Trump.<p>I'm starting to get a feeling that some people on anti-Trump side are just sore losers, and can't accept that he won democratic elections; no, it must be some conspiracy. I'm not endorsing what Trump is doing, but the facts on the ground are that many people did vote for him, and denying them agency makes it more difficult to notice the problems those people face in their lives.
This paper, Natural Monopoly and Its Regulation Richard A. Posner (1968) gives a really good overview of how (and why) this might play out. <a href="http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2861&context=journal_articles" rel="nofollow">http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic...</a>
Text version here: <a href="http://idlewords.com/talks/notes_from_an_emergency.htm" rel="nofollow">http://idlewords.com/talks/notes_from_an_emergency.htm</a>
Ceglowski wants internet companies to be brought under stronger regulatory authority of local European governments, to protect societies and elections from pernicious forces in those companies and on the internet generally. He hopes there's a spillover benefit to people in other countries.<p>"Regulate, regulate, regulate!", Maciej urges.<p>Erdogan of Turkey says, "OK, Maciej!" – blocking Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, & Wikipedia in the name of social order.<p>Putin of Russia says, "OK, Maciej!" – running the Zuckerberg-of-Russia (Durov) out of the country, blocking protest websites, and moving Russia towards a Chinese model of internet content control.<p>Newly-elected Macron of France says, "OK, Maciej!" – following previous French initiatives to fine Google for failing to delete truthful news worldwide under EU 'Right to be Forgotten' rules, and to ban 'terrorist' websites by administrative decree, Macron pledges further regulations to "stop fake news".<p>Theresa May of the UK says, "OK, Maciej!" – unveiling a manifesto to make Britain "the global leader in the regulation of the use of personal data and the internet", penalizing internet companies that "direct users – even unintentionally – to hate speech, pornography, or other sources of harm".
I think that the phenomenon of rich people investing in life extension technology is inescapable - it's the one thing that having a billion dollars still can't fix right now, rich people die just the same as everyone else... But I agree with the sentiment that the world doesn't really need an immortal Larry Ellisson ;)
"Now some dopey kids in Palo Alto get to decide the political future of the European Union based on some coding bootcamp that they went to. This doesn't seem right."