>But wouldn't it be better to use NLP to emancipate people from the attention economy altogether
I work on ads recommendations, and yes, it would be "better" if I stop recommending KFC to the 36% of obese Americans & instead recommend Crossfit or Yoga or Gold Gym or Myoplex. If I do that, they will quit the site en-masse and the negative engagement rates will go through the roof, I'll be out of a job, will end up eating at McDonalds to save money, and then become obese, and then click on the same KFC coupon recommended by another data scientist hired to replace me :)
Yes, it would be "better" if people read the Economist instead of Cosmo, or went to grad school instead of building crud web apps, or watched Frontline PBS instead of Jerry Springer, but then, it would also be much "better" for the environment if we got rid of the 1000s of walmarts & safeways selling groceries & Uncle Sam shipped you healthy lettuce and spinach weekly via USPS....communism 101 :)
Sorry you got downvoted - wasn't me, I swear (it actually annoys me that people use downvoting to mean "I disagree".)
The problem with your comment is that you present a false choice.
I believe that there is strong - very strong - demand for real, lasting happiness. Indeed I think that is the strongest demand there is. NLP and technologies like it can be at the core of the tools that help people choose who they want to be and help (not coerce) them to act consistency with those choices.
I cannot reason with somebody whose main thesis is "I believe" and "I think". The real world actually shows the opposite of your beliefs. The obese guy does click consistently on KFC coupons recommended via NLP, and does dismiss ads of fitness products. Its really his choice. Maybe he has found "real, lasting happiness" eating the KFC :) I mean, who am I, a mere data scientist, to decide what leads to "real,lasting happiness" for the masses ? Even saints & philosophers can't decide upon that. So I do what NLP is best for - if the obese guy wants KFC I give him that.
Am not being flippant...I actually share your concerns very much, just that data mining in the real world has made me uber-cynical for the future of mankind.
Ah, but you miss the crux of my point: people act inconsistently with their own choices! You're right that it's not up to me to decide what's good for people, but what gets me is when people decide for themselves what is good, and then find themselves unable to do it.
I work on ads recommendations, and yes, it would be "better" if I stop recommending KFC to the 36% of obese Americans & instead recommend Crossfit or Yoga or Gold Gym or Myoplex. If I do that, they will quit the site en-masse and the negative engagement rates will go through the roof, I'll be out of a job, will end up eating at McDonalds to save money, and then become obese, and then click on the same KFC coupon recommended by another data scientist hired to replace me :)
Yes, it would be "better" if people read the Economist instead of Cosmo, or went to grad school instead of building crud web apps, or watched Frontline PBS instead of Jerry Springer, but then, it would also be much "better" for the environment if we got rid of the 1000s of walmarts & safeways selling groceries & Uncle Sam shipped you healthy lettuce and spinach weekly via USPS....communism 101 :)