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posted by on Monday May 08 2017, @06:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the beep-beep-i-am-a-gadget dept.

I read a couple of good books recently, and wanted to share them and do some writing to collect my thoughts on a subject that is currently of news-worthy relevance and of particular interest to "Soylentils". Enjoy, and I look forward to the discussion!


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  • (Score: 2) by pnkwarhall on Monday May 08 2017, @04:09PM

    by pnkwarhall (4558) on Monday May 08 2017, @04:09PM (#506409)

    The lack of solutions to any of the specific problems Lanier brought up was the main problem I had with the book. However, I wonder if this was intentional--the preface to "You Are Not A Gadget" was IMHO cleverly constructed to challenge the reader to read with a deliberately conscious and reflective approach. Lanier ends the book by saying that the only solutions he has are ones specific to his experience and tools-at-hand (i.e. VR-based communication tools); but I think the implicit message is that the essence that makes humans special is that they can imagine, develop, and implement the missing solutions (then reflect on the outcome and start all over again!). As a "gadget" is something that un-thinkingly carries out orders/tasks--like a person who reads and implements a solution without much thought about the whys, hows, and consequences--it's our's to understand the problems and find the solutions.

    Your example of mechanical turks supplying their efforts to making said efforts able to be accomplished by algorithm (w/o their input) contains the ironic assumption that, at a certain point, the algorithm will be able to duplicate the "work" of the mechanical turk. It's ironic because at it's most basic this is a Turing Test, and Turing Tests say more about us than they do about the algorithm. One of Lanier's main points is that we are, to put it simply, allowing the data needs/assumptions of the algorithm to mold our own perceptions of who we are and how we function.

    If the essence of a person is ideological dreck[...]

    One man's trash is another man's treasure.

    --
    Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
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