Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment
Jason
God EmperorArrakis Moderator
Saw this this morning:
Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment
While toying with algorithms to see how people react to what they see (specifically whether a preponderance of posts with negative or positive terms can affect the emotional mindset of someone exposed to them and influence their future posts) is admittedly an interesting experiment, it's rather unethical in my opinion for a company to conduct what amounts to a psychological experiment on people without their consent (sorry, but generic terms of service agreements don't pass muster here).
For one, people trust social networks to help keep them in touch with people in the digital age, not try to manipulate their emotional states just because they want to see if they can on the sly. I mean, isn't their use of personal info for advertising purposes bad enough? And what if someone with psychological issues like severe depression was fed a preponderance of negative posts in their news feed, further exacerbating their depression and possibly leading to self-harm? Did they even consider that?
Capitalism in the digital age has led to the commodification of personal data on an unprecedented scale; and I think the relative ease with which private companies and even governments are using and manipulating that data should be a growing concern to us all. One lesson that I think is worth learning from this, however, is that the quality of the intellectually 'food' that we feed upon is just as important for our well-being as the quality of the physical food that we eat to sustain us.
Comments
I'm not entirely sure why "terrorism" is widely accepted as a word while "oligarchy" remains in the shadows.
It wouldn't surprise me to hear that NSA, the Department of Homeland Security and other 'protective' agencies welcomed Facebook into the fold... one big, happy family of oligarchs?
Since that study broke news a few months back that determined America was officially an oligarchy instead of a democracy... It's an interesting thing to think about since Independence Day is just around the corner. I don't know... it makes me feel like our forefathers would be rolling over in their graves.
Perhaps the way we trust the media, politicians, religious authorities, dogma, bankers etc?
I may have to take refuge/trust in the three jewels before Farcebook overwhelms with worldly mind manipulation . . . wait a minute that would manipulate my mind [confused . . . unable to think for myself . . . engage twitter . . . ask for direction]
I don't agree that America is an oligarchy, but even if it were, it's about time we face the fact that democracy doesn't work very well. Period.
Country after country after country that tries to be democratic fails to be democratic. Thailand prides itself on being democratic...which just makes me laugh (after I finish vomiting).
On a scale of 1-10, I don't know any country that hits a "10", or even a "7" in being democratic.
In a way, it sort of reminds me of the goal of Buddhism. We talk about it a lot, but most of us don't get very far along the path.