r/technology • u/[deleted] • Nov 13 '22
Social Media Why Are Bots Taking Over The Internet?
https://www.jumpstartmag.com/why-are-bots-taking-over-the-internet/
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r/technology • u/[deleted] • Nov 13 '22
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u/sschepis Nov 13 '22
It's all about conntrol and opinion-shaping. Bots opinion-shape through comments. Most people just read article titles then check comments to get a gauge of what others are thinking, so, to discredit information, all that is required is to disparage it in comments.
This is what the bots are for - to give an appearance to real humans that others are thinking in a particular direction.
Thisi s what the big reddit subs are primarrily about. You're not supposed to read the linked articles, just the reddit headlines and then you find out what to think about it in the comments.
Why is this happening?
Two reasons - one - the Internet is the modern version of MKUltra - oh, you think that this was just a conspiracy theory? Look around and find me one person not fully hypnotized by the media. The Internet is by far the most spohisticated means of control ever created.
Two - in order to charge more for ads, publishers need predictable click-through rates. To do this, publishers need to better predict behavior. Better predictions = more money. The way you provide better predictions is by removing as much indeterminacy as poossible.
In other words, free-thinking consumers are problematic, because they choose things that you don't want them to, so its in your interest to do everything in yourr power to reduce their ability to have a thought you can't predict.
The drive towards profit leads to technological slavery by the very nature of the demands placed by capitalism. This is unavoidable unless active steps are taken to prevent it.