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RiverCrochet commented on Ask HN: If technology is so good for the world, why are we becoming less happy?    · Posted by u/cmcy
RiverCrochet · 4 days ago
Almost all people live in places where there is a division between ruled and ruler, or something close to it. Technology enables rulers to do ruler-type things easier, so that's why it stays. The rulers are probably happy even if they put on a show of unhappiness to the ruled, and whether or not the ruled are unhappy are immaterial to the rulers. It's not that the rulers are evil, it's just that the rulers are ones to take care of themselves, so when the ruled are unhappy, they perceive it as their fault.

The Internet was weird in that for a brief second it really looked like it was the great leveler and a place where all humanity to stand on equal footing, at least to the ruled under the current major players on the world stage at that time. But of course, maybe that was just post fall-of-the-Soviet-union zeitgeist. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Time to stop relying on the Internet and get back to building in-real-life networks.

I'm definitely not in the ruler class, but I'm happy. Media isn't real, and I've decided to limit my consumption of media I don't like, including "news", and fill my time with things I do like.

Also I'm getting tired of this recent overarching attempt to make concern over birth rates a thing. If the rulers were worried about birth rates they'd start paying people to have and raise kids. Because they have all the money so they can do that if they want. Until they do, it's not something I'm going to care about.

RiverCrochet commented on Home Depot sued for 'secretly' using facial recognition at self-checkouts   petapixel.com/2025/08/20/... · Posted by u/mikece
bgwalter · 5 days ago
You scan faster than a trained cashier? Do the self-checkouts in the US use RFID? Here in the EU I have to scan, clumsily and slowly.
RiverCrochet · 5 days ago
In the U.S., particularly the Walmarts I've been to, cashiers are usually slower than the self-checkouts now.

Their self-checkouts used to be slow because the registers would verify the weight of items on the scale (the surface where you bag it) before letting you put it in the cart. If it didn't like the weight it would force you to put it back in the bag. I don't think they do this anymore. Asset protection can view a camera pointed at the scanner and bags if they think you're stealing.

Furthermore, it's hard for Walmart to retain people, so cashiers are treated like a dump stat. They won't really dedicate people to checking out anymore unless that's all they can do, e.g. elderly, so someone who's a cashier all day tends to be slow because they're accomodating that person. So you could be the fastest cashier in the world but it won't mean anything as far as raises, etc. Your fast cashiers are often pulled off and stocking unless its super busy.

RiverCrochet commented on Show HN: NextDNS Adds "Bypass Age Verification"    · Posted by u/nextdns
pas · 8 days ago
next step is to try to make VPNs illegal (or require age verification for them, of course)
RiverCrochet · 8 days ago
Age verification for VPNs would be awesome. I would rather hand ID over to a VPN provider than individual sites I visit.
RiverCrochet commented on Bluesky: Updated Terms and Policies   bsky.social/about/blog/08... · Posted by u/mschuster91
cosmic_cheese · 11 days ago
The hyper-polarization is probably preventable, in my estimation. The main thing a social network would need to do is to stymy the flywheel effect that allows a handful of users (and thus sets of norms) to come to dominate so strongly. That might mean something along the lines of a system that puts a hard cap on the reach any profile or topic can have, and when engagement exceeds the triggering threshold, reach actually tapers off proportionate to how far the threshold is exceeded.

In theory this would naturally elevate posts that are more measured and mundane while sinking posts with big emotional lizard brain appeal (by design or otherwise). With time this would establish a self-reinforcing norm that makes polarized and inflammatory posts look as clownish as they actually are.

RiverCrochet · 11 days ago
I think a lot of social network problems would be solved if platforms put an orange flag next to profiles that have posted more than 10 times in the last 24 hours, and a red flag next to profiles that have posted more than 60 times in the last 7 days. The total number of flags ever given to an account on the bio would be good as well. No other automatic action, just a visible flag or other symbol.

Being able to temporarily filter out profiles that post too many times (a setting you could change) would also be nice, but it shouldn't be automatic.

RiverCrochet commented on Man develops rare condition after ChatGPT query over stopping eating salt   theguardian.com/technolog... · Posted by u/vinni2
pryelluw · 12 days ago
These AIs are taking away the jobs of psychics and other snake oil peddlers. How will the median person get their confirmation bias serviced when the AI becomes too expensive?
RiverCrochet · 12 days ago
I remember the psychic infomercial craze of the early to mid-90's. Think Dionne Warwick's Psychic Friend's Network or the later Miss Cleo "Call Me Now" that aired on informercial spots everywhere in the 90's.

Your comment gave me a nightmare of that returning, but in AI form somehow.

RiverCrochet commented on Man develops rare condition after ChatGPT query over stopping eating salt   theguardian.com/technolog... · Posted by u/vinni2
RiverCrochet · 12 days ago
It sounds like the rare condition is already punishing him, but maybe if it were known there would be additional legal penalities for misusing tech, it might result in less misuse. If it works we could do similar things with cars and weapons.
RiverCrochet commented on Study: Social media probably can't be fixed   arstechnica.com/science/2... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
IAmGraydon · 12 days ago
Social media in a profit-seeking system can't be fixed. Profit-seeking provides the evolutionary pressure to turn it into something truly destructive to users. The only way it can work is via ownership by a benevolent non-profit. However, that would likely eventually give in to corruption if given enough time. Outlawing it completely, as well as regulating the algorithmic shaping of the online experience, is probably the inevitable future. Unfortunately, it won't come until the current system causes a complete societal facture and collapse.
RiverCrochet · 12 days ago
If enough users are destroyed, advertisers (social media's real customers) won't have sufficient markets for their products, and profits will fall. Social media can't destroy its users and survive.

Seriously though, I disagree. Social media in a profit-seeking system can work if the users are the ones who pay. The easiest way for this to work-now that net neutrality is no longer a thing-is bundling through user's phone bills. If Facebook et al. were bundled similarly to how Netflix, Hulu and other streaming apps are now packaged with phone plan deals, then the users would be the focus, not the advertisers. This might require that social media be legislatively required to offer true ad-free options, though.

RiverCrochet commented on Study: Social media probably can't be fixed   arstechnica.com/science/2... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
mvieira38 · 12 days ago
I think most of the social media power users don't connect with friends and family at all through the platforms. Young Gen Zers just scroll Tiktok (or whatever clone they prefer) and share the ones they like through snapchat/discord/telegram/messenger/sms/whatsapp. Some will post stuff for their friends to see through "close friends" or whatever, but it's much less personal than it once was with Facebook groups and whatnot
RiverCrochet · 12 days ago
Agreed. And it's not necessary when you have so many apps. They're using Tiktok for scrolling and Discord when they actually want to chat with their friends.
RiverCrochet commented on Study: Social media probably can't be fixed   arstechnica.com/science/2... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
KaiserPro · 12 days ago
> But here's the thing ... people CHOOSE to engage

Kinda, but they also don't really realise that they have much more control over the feed than they expect (in certain areas)

For the reel/tiktok/foryou-instagram feeds, it shows you subjects that you engage with. It will a/b other subjects that similar people engage with. Thats all its doing. continual a/b to see if you like what ever flavour of bullshit is popular.

Most people don't realise that you can banish posts from your feeds by doing a long press "I don't like this" equivalent. It takes a few times for the machine to work out if its an account, groups of accounts of theme that you don't like, and it'll stop showing it to you. (threads for example took a very long time to stop showing me fucking sports.)

Why don't more people know this? because it hurts short term metrics for what ever bollocks the devs are working on. so its not that well advertised. just think how unsuccessful the experiments in the facebook app would have been if you were able to block the "other posts we think you might like" experiments. How sad Zuckerberg would be that his assertion was actually bollocks?

RiverCrochet · 12 days ago
There's definitely a mass of people who can't/won't/don't get past passive/least-effort relationships with things on screens. These would be the type that in the TV days would simply leave the TV on a specific channel all day and just watch whatever was on, and probably haven't changed their car radio dial from the station they set it to when they bought the car. In modern times they probably have their cable TV they still pay for on a 24 hour news channel and simply have that going all day.

To be fair, in times far past, you really didn't have much choice in TV or radio channels, and I suspect it's this demographic that tend to just scroll down Facebook and take what it gives without much thought other than pressing Like on stuff.

RiverCrochet commented on Study: Social media probably can't be fixed   arstechnica.com/science/2... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
farceSpherule · 12 days ago
Social media is the new smoking...

Widespread adoption before understanding risks - embraced globally before fully grasping the mental health, social, and political consequences, especially for young people.

Delayed but significant harm - can lead to gradual impacts like reduced attention span, increased anxiety, depression, loneliness, and polarization

Corporate incentives misaligned with public health - media companies design platforms for maximum engagement, leveraging psychological triggers while downplaying or disputing the extent of harm

RiverCrochet · 12 days ago
Not an accurate analogy in my opinion, but close.

- Smoking feels good but doesn't provide any useful function.

- Some social media use feels good and doesn't provide any useful function, but social media is extremely useful to cheaply keep in touch with friends and family and extremely useful for discovering and coordinating events.

Fortunately the "keep in touch" part can be done with apps that don't have so much of the "social media" part, like Telegram, Discord, and even Facebook Messenger versus the main app.

u/RiverCrochet

KarmaCake day442January 31, 2024View Original