Why you, your children & your grand-children can't put down a phone or Computer game

[crimsondonkey]

Bit of a problem with this - all very interesting and that, but where's your empirical evidence mate? A collection of anecdotes and suppositions do not provide evidence or causal links.

The article perhaps appeals to people who can relate to this kind of half baked paranoid psychodrama, rather than rely on building a genuine hypothesis through reason and evidence. The reader nods and say yeah that's what I think so it must be right/ be credible.

The only influencing going on here is on the people who read that kind of superficial theorising and find it more compelling than they really ought to

[AJSki2fly]

So you don't believe that both the behaviour of adults and children can be surreptitiously manipulated and controlled by what's being drip-fed to them via today's technological devices, smartphones being but one example?

Then I'm sorry, you're blind, and we'll have to grossly agree to disagree. One day, in the not too distant future, when what's being reported fully comes to fruition, yours (and Adam's) stubborn blinkered-ness will sadly be exposed for what it is

Sometimes the TRUTH is uncomfortable.

Marco.

Quite agree, agencies and various large organisations are using AI to tailor how and what they present to individuals based on feedback through a variety of devices and mediums. They use this to develop applications, games, multi-media, and a host of other stuff for addictive consumption. It is a real thing and IMO is quite a scary state of affairs as it is not controlled in anyway. You only have to look at recently released mobile phones and other devices to see that the selling point is built in AI or even improve AI, this is marketed as improving you experience as a user as the AI learns from what you do what to present you, but actually you have to ask what control do you actually have over that feedback as an end user, or if in fact it is actually what you really want or need.

For those that pooh-poo the article, or ones like them as rubbish, I am afraid that the technology and the meaning of what it can and does do has already passed you by. Major commercial institutions will use whatever they can to leverage loyalty and gain control of customers to get their hard earn dollars, pounds, rupees, yen etc. out of them. Also if the result is a dumbing down of the masses through the tools, then by some that is not necessarily considered a bad thing, it creates control and a divide between those that understand what is happening and those that do not. Remember power is in information, and in this modern world it is data and how it is used, which in turn gives control and manipulation!!! Unfortunately it appears that aspects of this are taking sinister turns, as usual it will be driven by greed and and those wanting power.

Perhaps were are not that far away from a society similar to that in the Hunger Games. We probably just need a couple of major wars to cull the global population a bit and divide society up a bit first, I am sure those that control and manage the technology will flourish, and will even be supported and protected by governments for obvious reasons.

[Marco]

Our behavior is manipulated and controlled by every influence we are subjected to from the moment of conception. It is what creates out personalities. Do you not wonder why you don't like some types of food for example? That's not your decision, you have no control over it, it's a result of external forces acting upon you.

Absolutely. So you're essentially agreeing with me! Now, hold that thought (and what I've highlighted above) for a moment, and run with this...

Therefore, given that the above is FACT, you don't believe that, aided by today's technology and what we've learned over many years about human behavioural patterns , we haven't become better at understanding how to control and manipulate our behaviour as human beings, for nefarious gain, and have utilised currently available technology to help facilitate that?

Come of it... That's as much "external forces acting upon you' as anything else that's had a similar effect before, and you have NO control of this version either. Especially when there's untold billions to be made from it by those set to profit most from the accumulated data!

And those [perhaps including you] demanding "empirical evidence", in order to prove what's being put forward, I'm sorry, are simply cynics using it as a smokescreen to try and deflect from what is likely to be the unpalatable truth.

Exactly how much 'evidence' do you need, other than watching what's currently happening in the world around you, and what people are fast becoming/being slowly, but surely turned into, by the elite, with a ruthless agenda for achieving absolute control and world domination, as a result of having infinite wealth and power?

That's their plan!!

Marco.

[Macca]

Absolutely. So you're essentially agreeing with me! Now, hold that thought (and what I've highlighted above) for a moment, and run with this...

Therefore, given that the above is FACT, you don't believe that, aided by today's technology and what we've learned over many years about human behavioural patterns , we haven't become better at understanding how to control and manipulate our behaviour as human beings, for nefarious gain, and have utilised currently available technology to help facilitate that?

Come of it... That's as much "external forces acting upon you' as anything else that's had a similar effect before, and you have NO control of this version either. Especially when there's untold billions to be made from it by those set to profit most from the accumulated data!

And those [perhaps including you] demanding "empirical evidence", in order to prove what's being put forward, I'm sorry, are simply cynics using it as a smokescreen to try and deflect from what is likely to be the unpalatable truth.

Exactly how much 'evidence' do you need, other than watching what's currently happening in the world around you, and what people are fast becoming/being slowly, but surely turned into, by the elite, with a ruthless agenda for achieving absolute control and world domination, as a result of having infinite wealth and power?

Marco.

What exactly are people being turned into? If you could go into a bit more detail as to how this will all work on a practical level then I'd have something to hang my hat on.

And on the subject of 'artificial intelligence' there's no such thing. It's just a computer program - but there's nothing 'scary' about that.

People have been manipulating other peoples' wants and desires for thousands of years. It's what people do. And the masses have always been dumbed down. The Romans and Greeks can be found complaining about that.

I suppose people just love the idea that we are heading toward some weird and scary future, you see the same thing with the current hysteria about the climate. People want all this shit to be true, I've no idea why. Now an article exploring that might have something interesting to say.

[anthonyTD]

Good post,
And like others here, its no surprise to me, we have been enticed into using devices like smart phones, and tablets on the pretence that they are helping us, and therfore benefiting us the more we use them, unfortunetly many people have now become so addicted to using them, they cannot put them down, some would say; maybe this was the intention from the start, throw in the social media aspect as well, one example; i was recently in one of the play centers for kids with my Daughter, and couldnt help notice one young mother of two constantly on her phone, even when her children tried to get here attention, she continualy blocked them with her arm so they would go away and leave her to continue with what ever it was she felt was more important on her phone than keeping an eye on her kids, or paying any attention to them. this went on for the remainder of time i was there, in total; around 2 hours
We are constantly being distracted, and quietly brainwashed into accepting a reality that to many of us is unhealthy to say the least.
I really worry for kids today.

[mikmas]

Always cracks me up ....

People on the internet pontificating about how evil the internet is

[Marco]

What exactly are people being turned into? If you could go into a bit more detail as to how this will all work on a practical level then I'd have something to hang my hat on.

That fact that you're asking that either shows your gross ignorance of what's happening in the world around you, or what I suspect is more likely the case, that you simply don't want to admit the possibility of that which doesn't 'fit' with your ingrained belief system.

Anthony has just touched upon the most pertinent example of all: today's 'iZombies'! And our society is populated by thousands upon thousands of others *exactly* like the 'robot', whose behaviour pattern he described.

There are numerous other examples I could cite of how we're being surreptitiously controlled and manipulated, by having our behavioural patterns analysed and recorded via various 'Smart' devices, or being 'led' into behaving and doing things in a certain way, even with small things such as the near-abolishing of manned checkouts in supermarkets and the move towards computer-controlled 'driverless' cars.

That is fundamental brainwashing, plain and simple, and it's certainly NOT for our benefit. It is symptomatic of the control being imposed upon us by those with a nefarious agenda. Mark my words, man-made machines will eventually be the ruination of mankind....!

People have been manipulating other peoples' wants and desires for thousands of years. It's what people do. And the masses have always been dumbed down. The Romans and Greeks can be found complaining about that.

Precisely - and it's always been carried out by those in positions of authority, for three reasons: to achieve infinite WEALTH and POWER, and with it CONTROL over all others. Various dictators, over the centuries, have tried (and thankfully ultimately failed) to achieve it in the long term, but with those behind it this time, I'm not so sure!!

Marco.

[Marco]

its no surprise to me, we have been enticed into using devices like smart phones, and tablets on the pretence that they are helping us, and therfore benefiting us the more we use them, unfortunetly many people have now become so addicted to using them, they cannot put them down

Exactly - and trust me, it's NO 'accident' either. And the woman you described is a classic example of the 'zombies' we've now been breeding for at least a decade!

Marco.

[Marco]

Always cracks me up ....

People on the internet pontificating about how evil the internet is

The Internet itself is not intrinsically "evil"; rather it (and other forms of modern technology) can be used with 'evil' intent by those with an agenda - and it is. *That* is the point.

Marco.

[struth]

No doubt it can be used for good and not so good... It's not just our leaders either. Being www it can be from anywhere.

I like playing with advertisers who like to target you by looking at stuff online I'm not interested in... They then hit me with ads for stuff I won't be tempted with.. Ner