Hacker News: 50656E6973

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Former Twitter Employees Charged with Spying for Saudi Arabia"

50656E6973 — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:12:13 +0000

>This is whataboutism, and it detracts from issues instead of productively extending the conversation

This is a self contradictory statement. Calling someone's argument "whataboutism" is itself a logical fallacy designed to prevent extension of the conversation into a larger context

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Former Twitter Employees Charged with Spying for Saudi Arabia"

50656E6973 — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:07:19 +0000

The Communications Chief of Time Warner and former EVP at News Corporation writes speeches pro bono for the Prime Minister of Israel.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ginsberg

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Censorship is bad even when it’s done by private companies"

50656E6973 — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 16:57:26 +0000

>If this very comment had been about some unrelated topic...it would be right for the comment to be censored from this discussion

By that same logic, we should censor your comment, because this article is not about filtering bot/adspam from small niche forums; It's about mass censorship and manipulation of organic political opinions on platforms with billions of users.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Tech and Liberty"

50656E6973 — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 20:28:08 +0000

>The unique problem of the internet is that it allows bad ideas to infect, fester, and mutate in the minds of others at a speed never seen before, without the natural safeguards that we've always had: peer-review and social acceptance. That leads to a spill-over of bad ideas into the public discourse which, in turn, resets society's definition for what kind of ideas are acceptable. A few rapid cycles of this, and we got our Post Truth World

This is precisely the same logic held by the Church during the Inquisition as they were safeguarding Truth from the Scientific Revolution and the evil of the printing press.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them"

50656E6973 — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 23:41:55 +0000

Mass media in general has been profiting off rumors, gossip, and falsehoods for a long time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

The difference here is FB is doing it algorithmically on a much larger scale.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Plants communicate, nurture their seedlings, and get stressed"

50656E6973 — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 23:31:50 +0000

>Modern philosophies that disregard the special place in nature of Man, and deny Man's nature, are a mess and lead to some pretty horrible outcomes, such as the dehumanization of undesirable groups.

Which philosophies?

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Plants communicate, nurture their seedlings, and get stressed"

50656E6973 — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 23:27:25 +0000

It seems you've got it backwards.

Abrahamic religions, for example, created an "I-It" relationship by declaring nature to be subordinate to mankind in Genesis.

The theory of evolution and the science of ecology defines the relationship as communal and interrelated, or "I-Thou".

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Life expectancy for American men drops for a third year"

50656E6973 — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 14:18:57 +0000

Indeed. And yet life expectancy is still lower for men, and is getting worse. Can we not talk about that for a moment?

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Life expectancy for American men drops for a third year"

50656E6973 — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:57:37 +0000

Your anecdotal dismissal supports the parent commenter's point.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter to ban political advertising"

50656E6973 — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 16:32:12 +0000

Money can create popularity.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "U.S. Seeks to Heighten Scrutiny of Foreign Investment in Tech, Infra, Data"

50656E6973 — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 22:07:11 +0000

>Do you actually have something concrete in mind here

Ideals codified in law. For example, the 1rst and 2nd Amendments.

When generalizing with national boundaries, I of course do not mean to imply that literally everyone born within those imaginary lines thinks the same.

Are there more specific categories I could use for these ideological classifications?

New comment by 50656E6973 in "U.S. Seeks to Heighten Scrutiny of Foreign Investment in Tech, Infra, Data"

50656E6973 — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 22:01:33 +0000

Using large geographic/national boundaries to generalize ideological categories is of course inherently erroneous to a degree; it's like the Zen Buddhist teaching of "a finger pointing at the moon". You seem to be getting hung up on the finger.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "U.S. Seeks to Heighten Scrutiny of Foreign Investment in Tech, Infra, Data"

50656E6973 — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:38:59 +0000

>Why there are people who welcome the rise of Chinese/CCP hegemony when they are actively looking to crush [2] "Western values" is beyond me.

Perhaps it's because Big Tech is full of people who favor Chinese ideals over Western Enlightenment/American ideals, such as:

-Group identity over individuality

-Mass tracking/surveillance over privacy

-Cenorship over free speech

-State control/power over self defense

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter “Silenced” Dissenting Voices During Protests in Egypt: Research"

50656E6973 — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 17:35:22 +0000

Social media algorithms of course influence the Overton Window. It doesn't matter if the developers are consciously conspiring to do it or not; algorithmic bias is naturally inherent.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Equifax securities fraud class action [pdf]"

50656E6973 — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 15:14:20 +0000

>changed the justice department policy to go after smaller 'fines' as settlements instead of prosecuting crimes.. only because of the simple fact that fines are easy to win, and criminal cases can be lost.

This policy change could also perhaps be attributed to lobbyists seeking to maximize profits and minimize risks for corporate clients who are knowingly breaking the law.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter says it will restrict retweeting world leaders who break rules"

50656E6973 — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 19:12:31 +0000

The same thing?

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter says it will restrict retweeting world leaders who break rules"

50656E6973 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 22:50:26 +0000

>>[question] At what point does Twitter restricting world leader tweets become election interference and foreign policy interference

>[answer] Never.

While I agree with your logic, it doesn't seem like the person I was replying to does.

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter says it will restrict retweeting world leaders who break rules"

50656E6973 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 22:42:18 +0000

What about the Network Effect?

What does it matter if anyone can have a say if they don't get heard?

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter says it will restrict retweeting world leaders who break rules"

50656E6973 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 22:39:59 +0000

>all who maintained a modicum of quality.

Not exactly...

"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day."

-Thomas Jefferson, 1807

New comment by 50656E6973 in "Twitter says it will restrict retweeting world leaders who break rules"

50656E6973 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 22:31:33 +0000

Are you asserting Twitter can't influence elections?