How corporations want to colonize your mind

As someone whose “app use time” (including Netflix) could occupy a full time job, all I have to say is

‘^‘help

What the fuck... I check my phone 321 times a week on average.

That just blows my mind.

50 times a week the first app I open is reddit too. And that's not even counting desktop usage.

Damn...

Makes me want to give up on everything.

January 2022 I looked at it and I decided to cut my social media daily time at 1/3. I read 19 books since then.

So tired of everything and anything having an app now. This is why i don't download apps i don't have to. I use reddit on mobile browser.

I decreases screen time by 40 percent last week! Now down to 8 hours a day!

Bo Burnham. Go watch Inside on Netflix. This is not an ad. It is legit just great.

I am so jealous you get to freshly discover him.

He is one of the OG Youtubers, he does comedy music. This is the one that really got him famous, but this is likely the most famous now

bo burnham. he has a few comedy specials but his interviews are some of his best content

Go watch his video “Klan cook out” on YouTube.

I’m downvoted but I didn’t make this up

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Welcome to Costco I love you

If youre down with mind colonization be sure to smash that like button, hit subscribe and ring that notification bell to be sure you dont miss any colonization.

Sleep well!

US Military Encrypted

im here for people with your sense of humor. theres always a good laugh to be had.

turbofuel

https://youtu.be/MLBHr03Aj1s?t=4

No Carls Jr.

Uggghhh Gfuel I can't stand that still. I drink Booty Juice myself!

I wish I could get a reddit comment sponsor. Just tag all your comments with a plug. Brought to you by Huggies. We got you, baby.

😂

Here is the Libby link if your library has it and you like free. https://share.libbyapp.com/title/3063955

Seconding this book, it's this video but even more in depth, written by someone who has been intently observing the progression of harvesting data for profit for like the past 20+ years.

I'm going to take this challenge and hit up the 2 public libraries, which for a town of 500k sounds like such a small number, and see if they have this book. Thanks for the recommendation

If anyone wants to read this but cant afford to buy it, or purchasing it from a corporation (especially the linked one?) rubs you the wrong way given the subject, PM me and I'll link you an epub.

If you don't know how to get it yourself that is , obviously.

Or here's the author's website if you just want other options that probably return more to the author.

https://shoshanazuboff.com/book/

You said you’re not a fan of him, yet seem to be really interested in this topic. Have you seen Inside? It’s thematic center is this exact idea. I understand not finding his previous work funny, or his type of comedy funny, but Inside can stand more of a performative art piece that happens to have jokes in it. I would recommend giving it a shot if this is the sort of stuff you’re interested in..

Also The World Computer by Jonathan Beller.

https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-world-computer

Is there something new in there? We pretty much know what it is that they are doing, we just don't care, cause we are addicted at this point.

Jumping in to recommend: Platform Capitalism, The Marvelous Clouds, Discourse networks 1800/1900

For something in between the short and this book, I recommend this philosophical/poetic video from exurb1a

I don't appreciate Zuboff's work. I have read this book and her conclusion seems to basically be that surveillance capitalism is a corruption of neoliberalism and not somehow its natural progression. Corporations did not evolve into extracting every second of your personal lives because they "wanted to", it's because of the exact reason that Bo points out—that shareholders demand increasing value from their investment. The only way that we can live in a comfortable society is if the wealthy can tolerate a world that does not exist to continually enrich them, that a business can make some level of profit and maintain that indefinitely instead of searching out new ways of ruining people's lives to gain value.

700 pages on surveillance capitalism? I’ll just take Bo’s word for it

I think Bo is done a disservice (Shoshana might as well given the 2019 publication) that this is from the tour for his movie Eight Grade which came out in 2018, and it's only in the last couple of years that AI has really become supercharged in the public sphere. It entirely removes the human element from the surveillance and supercharges it, while leaving it inherently unintelligible to humans and so impossible to supervise, or even improve based on what we want the world to be instead of what it is.

AIs are already proving to be incredibly discriminatory against minorities, amoral in what they disseminate, unbound by any sense of privacy and capable of basically 'solving' macro-human behavior.

We might see in the future government run AIs linked to all globally available databases, as well as all government available databases, with them then doing (in the best case) policy suggestions or (in the worst case) identifying dissidents even before they've participated in any kind of anti-government action.

Reviews seem to say the author is circle jerking too much with verbose language for the sake of it.

Is this going to help me feel less anxious? Otherwise I can't afford mentally to read it right now 😞 should probably just get off the internet completely.

It was very eye opening. Also Brad Troemel is helpful to me.

Library genesis..... Fuck paying.

This is just American version of MAXIMUM FREEDOM.

Citizen, you have the freedom for your life force to be converted into imaginary value that can be channeled upwards into the imaginary coffers of the richest people in the world, who only know and understand one thing: own and control everything.

MURICA.

Did you watch his Netflix special?

These types of books use real issues to shill for left-wing politics. Real problems with terrible solutions, typical reddit crap.

THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST - ADAM BUXTON https://podcastgo.pl/listen/?appleid=1040481893 Great interview with Shoshana Zuboff

Also, I came here to suggest something similar in Manufacturing Consent or Inventing Reality.

I mean, you could have left that part out about his comedy and linked to your book. But I guess everyone has to get their swipe in.

Piggybacking on this, read “Weapons of Math Destruction”. It’s about the growing rise in opaque data algorithms and the irreparable harm done by companies using them. Amazon link included, but probably available elsewhere.

https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Math-Destruction-Increases-Inequality/dp/0553418831/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=56345491352&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqoibBhDUARIsAH2OpWjPg8oBlFLY6wQ-uXBUA2h1YeZ1gtDxZdiV9n4ySGrwwp74GHBDxioaArIWEALw_wcB&hvadid=274727355488&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9024251&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=11758322930731854147&hvtargid=kwd-329809828004&hydadcr=15806_10362720&keywords=weapons+of+math+destruction&qid=1667395213&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjk2IiwicXNhIjoiMS41NiIsInFzcCI6IjEuNjQifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-1

Damn. I'll definitely have to read this sometime.

.

Dope, I love books <3

Now if only everyone with lingering existential dread regarding identity in the face of a careless world could tap into that creative side

Oh well, gonna go play some games now

Having anxiety doesn't necessarily make me or anyone else with anxiety fragile. I don't see how this kind of language is beneficial to anyone. Anxiety is a condition many people (including myself) live with that is manageable via medications, therapy, and/or various behavior modifications. Nothing about anxiety is easy, but "fragile" is such a self-serving pitying term. All humanity is fragile. Our lives are short and full of emotional challenges. Don't pity people that don't want it.

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One of his slightly older songs gives me that feeling is “from gods perspective” the end is * chefs kiss *

His special definitely helped me grieve pre-covid. I work in healthcare and I was definitely not coming to terms with things in a healthy way.

It was a similar moment when South Park made a Bin Laden looney tunes episode after 9/11, collective trauma needs a collective release.

I can bet that Bo is his worst critic, but I certainly hope he understands how many people got something tangible out of his work.

I cannot even begin to explain how his music makes me feel, inside was rough, and there were a couple songs that made me cry;

Then I went through a car crash this year,followed by a 6 year breakup, right around that time he released the deluxe version and songs like "the chicken" and "five years " absolutely broke me

Can any one.. shut the fuck up? Can.. can anyone... any.. any ... any ONE ... any SINGLE one ... can any ONE... shut the fuck up? About any-- about anyth -- about any sss-- about any single thing?... Can any single person, shut the fuck up, about any single thing, for... an hour? Ya know, is that -- is that possible?

I was watching his special in my home office on my computer and in one of the final songs he yells at you to get up and he looks into the camera and really yells it. Like stop thinking of this as a show for a second, I'm actually taking to you and I want you to actually stand up. The first time I saw it it shocked me, I actually stood up. Now if it's ever playing in the background I always stand up during that part of the song because I've usually been sitting for too long anyway and it's as good of a reason as any to stretch and walk around for a second to get blood flow back in my legs.

I was rapt by All eyes on Me

In addition to being an incredible filmmaker and world class musician

There it is again…

I watch Bo Burnham's inside and it triggers me into being emotional. I hear that song he sang that funny feeling. I tear up. especially that pheobe bridges version of it makes me cry literally everytime.

I’m a 39 year old bearded dude.

I get tears every time I hear White Woman’s Instagram.

…….it might be the first song on my playlist

You should watch him being real on green room

I think why some people didn’t like that special was because of how real it was, he left in parts where he was genuinely frustrated or depressed as fuck instead of cutting it out like he could’ve, but then the point doesn’t really get across

If you don't cry during his special, something must be wrong with you. No but for real, it was hard for me to watch the special because I hated seeing Bo fall down into the depression spiral once again, was so happy to see him back and feel better, only for the isolation to break him down once again. And I could really relate to his suffering so it made it even harder. I really hope he is doing better today

He's a smart fella. And a fart smella!

I've been on a Bo Burnham kick lately and rewatched all of his specials this weekend. Surprisingly his "Kanye Rant" is the one that touched me most. When he's singing "I don't think that I can handle this right now" and he screams a few times I can feel so much pain from him. He makes me feel a lot of things. I belly laugh and nearly cry in almost all of his specials. I can never get enough of him.

His self titled album, about 12 years ago, is the only music I've ever bought.

It wasnt about covid. Inside is about exactly what he is talking. Its about the role the internet and social media play in our lives.

He's great.

Since the original comment was deleted, I'm hijacking the top response to provide the context that people are talking about Bo Burnham here.

His comedy songs are funny to me, as well

I wouldn'ta got the lettuce if i knew it woudln't fit

How did you reply to my comment before I posted it?

It was like watching Pink Floyd’s, “The Wall” to me. It was an experience to warp tech and reflect on.

That’s pretty lame ngl

I’m assuming that last line is in reference to rising sea levels—that’s a chilling ass statement, I love it.

they are both just making the standard critique of the exact same thing: capitalism

Like really the absolute most basic, too. Literally all of these problems come from the infinite-growth style capitalism that's been the norm since like, the steel barons of the 1900s.

I don't know what other good paths there are to be honest, I just know capitalism is fundamentally a horrendous meat grinder that perhaps a tiny portion of the population legitimately benefit from. Even that is unclear because we've all seen how empty and unsettled the uber-rich can become.

Idk, I'm just rambling. What's even weirder is that past times were definitely way worse for the average Joe, but it was also way less obvious to everyone (probably even to rulers) how much better things could have been.

Yeah so I think I’m gonna get a McGriddle for breakfast. That’s something I guess…

I was about to point out the same thing. I was surprised so many people missed the big idea, and you've articulated it perfectly.

So much this. People need to understand that nobody’s in charge. Not only does that mean no insidious grand plan, no small group of individuals you can be mad at, it means that any change you want to make had to be a systemic change. What does that mean? It means that instead of directly changing behaviours, you need to change the rules and processes of the system that cause those behaviours to happen.

What does that look like in practice? Let’s use the OP as an example. Companies have to grow forever, and therefore they’re looking for new ways to expand. We could legislate limits on dark patterns. We could build frameworks for ethical use of user data. But those aren’t systemic, they don’t address the root cause. What about making all companies not for profit? That removes the need for eternal growth.

Think about systems.

The markets are owned by the banks, there is no free market, the banks have the ability to influence corporate governance to their own benefit.

Its not just market forces, its a system designed by the banks for their own benefit.

Banks are evil.

Give Black Mirror a watch.

That username is certainly interesting

its the commie sock puppet for me.

little tube dude got my respect, and my heart.

I somehow forgot how genius Inside was. Thanks for that reminder. I may have to go back and watch the whole thing again.

I love that song. I have a friend that I like to talk politics with because we're on different sides of the aisle (she's an anti-Trump republican, I try to be party neutral but have swung way left, especially recently) to help each other understand the oppositions viewpoints. Each of our echo chambers say that the other party must be doing what they're doing because they're evil or stupid. After our talks the mutual feeling is usually "now I understand why I disagree with you."

Anyway, I sent that song to her with the message "I'm really curious to hear your take on this song." She abandoned her typical loquacious analysis and simply responded "yup. All of it."

This, because his humour is very YouTube it didn't feel funny the first time I watched what or the other specials, but inside felt like a self inspection that was on a level I would never explore myself. It's inspiring in some ways... And I really respect the guy now.

Carlin was 100% critical of capitalism and the evil inherent in it. He wasn't trying to trick you and he definitely wasn't toeing a line.

You're just another condescending assphat on the internet with extra steps.

I think you eloquently argued your point and I followed your logic but you lost me at the end. You do care and you put people down if they don't match your superior critique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyvxt1svxso

This is your idea of someone who "twisted the understanding and narrative to match what capitalists want the world to think, in a manner that avoids critical of capitalism itself."?

Me experiencing two artists and comedians in a similar way is not me expressing fact or absolutes. I’m a fan of two comedians from two different eras and find similarities - not just in this one tik tok snippet of something Burnham said once - but being a fan of their works. I did not claim their works to be literally the same. I was just merely sharing a thought in my head, one that pleased me and that others might share. I don’t have the time to defend my stance, nor do I care to. Just truly enjoyed the clip & his convictions reminded of Carlin. Simple as that.

Your judgment that my comment was incomplete and inadequate does not resonate with me. It seems like your analysis of Carlin & Burnham is one that you stand by (totally fair!). But I disagree on some of your observations. My nuanced and unique experience related to my love of Burnham & Carlin is a personal one that your opinion holds no merit, to me. And I wouldn’t expect my opinion to hold any merit for you :)

I feel like you identify more with one than the other. Doesn't mean that you are right and Carlin is wrong though.

You'll notice - you noted the "insidious nature of people in power"... which is Carlin's bag... but that's the opposite of what Burnham said... what Burnham said if you rewatch is... it doesn't matter how nice they try to be. It's systemic

this was literally carlin's M.O. People individually are inherently good. groups of people are inherently stupid and bad. Groups of people without filtering will make bad, destructive decisions over time. He did see the flaws in capitalism, but didn't see any credible alternatives. Same goes for democracy.

This is in actuality how fascism spreads - it takes a known problem "bad german economy" (which was a true observation) and then fails to critically analyze it but presents an edgey solution "the jews gotta go" (which is a bullshit excuse)

you are either critically underinformed about the rise of the NSDAP in germany and the full scope of the remodeling of german society at that time, or willfully misrepresenting actual fascism.

Either way, your comment is verbose but vapid.

thanks for posting rick wolff video

I'm not familiar with Burnham beyond this video, but I am familiar enough with Carlin to agree that his expositions were incomplete.

Edit after a little more thought:

I'm not sure Carlin himself intended to promote fascism. I'm more confident in saying that because of his incomplete expositions, listeners are more likely to draw incorrect solutions; therefore fascism. Anyway I'm saving your comment. I want to look more into Burnham in the future. Thanks!

I haven’t watched much Carlin but i do notice that he’s used often by people on the right. I’m sure he probably didn’t wish for that, but it’s like you said. Because he isn’t analyzing the problem, it lends itself to interpretations without answer and is typically the motif of centrists. Talking about the insidious nature of people in power is a tool that can be used as a weapon to maintain the status quo. “Carlin was talking about those guys not us!” Talking about how it’s the system that’s the problem makes the answer clear to me; that the status quo is what should be changed. And how can the people maintaining it use Bo’s words as a weapon? Which is why i don’t often see him used as a misunderstood proponent of conservative politics like i do Carlin.

that was the most neckbearded shit I've ever read on this site.

[...] they are neither equal nor is your understanding of them complete or adequate.

Jesus fuck.

If you want anyone to take that first paragraph seriously, you need to provide some YT clips where he engages in the twist you're accusing him of and break it down. Because it's very counter the opinion of millions who've watched him and see nothing but David vs Goliath.

I'd gild you if I could. Nice to see someone on Reddit who really gets it.

What does this mean? Who is coming at him?

The person you're replying to said that Bo is saying what Carlin was saying.

Not to take away from him here but this has been blatantly and openly talked about for a decade by tons of people. This is an old idea

I was with you up until...

and it's not even controversial.

It absolutely fucking is. Like one of the most controversial issues there is. Like lose your job and get ousted from communities level of controversial when you fuck around and find out. Like if you brought it up and said - well we can start with unionizing... and you did that at a walmart, the entire store might end up closed. Like the government works with walmart to wiretap their employees controversial. Like if you want to have that conversation with people and include all the basis for trying to explain it - you're risking expulsion and ire of people who want nothing to do with that or risking their job controversial.

How you can consider one of the largest taboos in the world, the thing that wars get started over if you fuck around with it... as hundreds of invasions by the U.S. and U.N. globally and numerous massacres of millions of people has demonstrated isn't controversial... is itself kinda fucking sus honestly.

The last two hundred years have been a blood stained struggle over exactly this issue. There is no single thing that so defined modern society than it. It is literally the very zeitgeist of the last two centuries outright and it's so thoroughly around us it's like we're fish in water and don't even notice it's pervasiveness in most of the media we consume as well.

2019?

There's a bigger bubble.

You can't infinitely grow in a finite space.