For starters, he mis-characterizes the origins of the concept, claiming it came exclusively out of medieval Christian debates about theodicy. In fact, determinism (if anything) was the unique product there. Greeks and Stoics wrestled with free will extensively.
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Then this notion that AI-powered advertising will turn us into will-less zombies. In my "appointed dictator-for-life" fantasy, I order everyone who claims some version of this to sit in front of the Facebook ads-buying UI and try to sell shoes online. They'd change their tune.
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Those most vocal in their claims that advertising is this immensely powerful and dangerous technology that can do everything from swing elections to turn you into a zombie, know almost nothing about it. While actual practitioners tend to be far more skeptical of such claims.
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I read Sapiens and mostly liked it. He has a real gift for exposition and storytelling. But since then, I can see a certain formula repeating itself, with less and less actual novel thought in the mix.
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To be fair, the argument in the latest book is not that we will outsource decision-making to ad companies but rather that algorithms will know us much better than we know ourselves. The full argument in the book is extremely persuasive and frankly hard to refute.
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And once the algorithms are that good and deliver provably better predictions, why not then just let them tell us what to do? A rudimentary example today is allowing Google Maps do the navigation since it knows the traffic jams/bottlenecks in real time.
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As much as I don't like appeals to authority, I think some fields (at this point) need a 'license to comment and write about'. AI is one of them. So is advertising tech.
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Taking the "you don't seem to know what you're talking about" tack with journalists results in the reply "I've reported on this topic for x years", this oddly circular logic. They play by their own rules, but don't seem to realize those rules are distanced from reality.
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@jhreha i can agree with this. ive noticed in my own marketing and in general fitness industry messaging, how influence-able folks are - to the point of being 100% predictable. its like the only free(willed) ones are insane. - 1 more reply
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His book went way off track when he started talking about the future.
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Not true. It still won't be able to influence people to pay for the Guardian.
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Your brief description was far off from my interpretation of the article. It feels like a straw man
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I should've just read your tweet as a cliff note. I couldn't even get through the piece it was so OTT...
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You can’t help but feel that way
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