Social media was unleashed onto the world with no harm studies or thought for the long term impact.
Now we’re catching up and realizing how bad it is.
For a similar case, see tasers in Canada after a handcuffed immigrant was killed by one. The question came up “how were tasers certified safe for humans?”.
The answer was “they weren’t. A private company just started selling them to police forces who just started using them.”
> Social media was unleashed onto the world with no harm studies or thought for the long term impact.
To require a safety study for anything someone might "unleash" as a public product would be bonkers: nobody would be able to release anything at all.
But I do not think social media as such — when originally it came to prominence — was anything that caused significant harm. Things like internet forums, BBs and blogs did have some troublesome elements rooted in privacy of the participants (allowing harrasement, for instance). In all though, it was a positive for society though — I have learned so much as a kid by exploring areas where experts out their expertise out and discussed challenges with you.
While the trend of this continued with the birth of modern social media like MySpace, Facebook, Orkut/Google Wave/Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, Digg, Reddit, Flickr... originally they were a significant net positive for society too — they opened up the world for many to express themselves (just like blogs did for the more technically savy).
At some point, trying to monetize attention, the winning social media companies started applying well established (from traditional media), arguably immoral marketing tactics: leveraging psychological research to keep people engaged and sell ads for their financial gain.
I believe targeting these practices regardless of the media type is what needs to be regulated.
Harassment is already well regulated, but with kids (and adults), they do not always take it seriously or are not able to detect it: I am acknowledging this needs work too.
> To require a safety study for anything someone might "unleash" as a public product would be bonkers
Let’s examine that and see if it holds up.
To sell food, it is regulated and must be approved. And drugs. And cars. And anything that plugs into power. Anything that makes noise. Anything with an engine. Any kids toy. Any structural or safety item.
In fact, I would say the very vast majority of “public products” that a person wants to sell must be certified and meet regulations for that category of one kind or another.
Now you may say software is different. Often yes, but some software (gambling, health stuff, credit card stuff) must be certified and meet regulations. There are hefty penalties for breaking the rules.
And finally you might say this is different because social media is free. Plenty of things in the world that are free must meet regulations and pass tests (free drinking water, free power, etc). Just because I offer a free shuttle to my venue doesn’t mean the bus or driver are not regulated. Even if you give away free food you must have a food safe certification so you don’t make people sick with half-cooked chicken.
So you see, “unleashing” public products into the world with no approval or testing or regulations or evidence that it doesn’t cause harm is actually the exception, not the rule.
Yes. The refueling takes the most time but that is planned years in advance. A one-year planned outage every decade can still be 24/7/365 in the other nine years.
> Watterson has a recurring dream about his old college where he doesn’t know what class he’s taking or where he’s meant to be. He roams the grounds, growing more flustered with each confused step. Right before he wakes, he thinks, “How many more years until I graduate…? Wait, didn’t I graduate already? How old am I?”
I’m 44 and I have this dream every few months about high school and university. Something deep inside.
I don't think Australia has many true four way stops in cities and towns. Usually there's a give way sign on two of the directions, or lights, or a roundabout.
Unmarked intersections do exist, mostly on bush tracks and backroads, but I don't think I've ever seen the four stop sign arrangement here in Vic. Apparently it's slightly more common in NSW.
By paying farm worker less than they deserve, farm equipment manufacturers more than they deserve, and using farming practices that destroy the ecology and depend on continued fossil fuel extraction.
(And in California where the most profitable crops are perennial fruits and nuts, probably outright stealing water from the aquifer or state irrigation system.)
I’m still shocked we have not seen an extremely convincing AI video of a famous person or world leader announcing something huge like UBI or WW3 or aliens.
Now we’re catching up and realizing how bad it is.
For a similar case, see tasers in Canada after a handcuffed immigrant was killed by one. The question came up “how were tasers certified safe for humans?”. The answer was “they weren’t. A private company just started selling them to police forces who just started using them.”
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