I realize all online communities go though some rough times every now and then; but I did not realize things had gone so far "south" at Stack until a friend forwarded me this today.
I have no idea what is going on in other online communities (especially Stack places) ; but I do know from our small, tight-knit community here, over the years, sometimes people can get quite upset with the people who run the site; and I assume (without first hand experience) the larger the community, the more problems can arise.
Personally, I have never wanted to "go big commercial" and "go very big" where money and investors dominate our lives. I do not want to be richer and richer and richer. I do not need billions of dollars. There is no fun in that, as far as I am concerned. I made a decision years ago to keep my life and this site "small" and always commercial free to registered users.
On that note and on a related topic, I recently finished an audio book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power By: Shoshana Zuboff and I was surprised to learn that most of the "big tech" corporate businesses moved heavily into surveillance capitalism when they (all of them) had no choice, because of financial problems. In fact, my guess is that 100% of the big tech, super rich firms all have adopted the model of surveillance capitalism. Dr. Zubroff certainly thinks so and makes this very clear in her book.
From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism
I took away a bit of a different view on all this after finishing the book above, as follows:
Zuboff describes this new form of capitalism as dependent on "instrumentarian power", where "everything" is a sensor and "Big Other" processes all that "big data" to create predictive markets for human behavior (from what she calls "behavioral exhaust") , which is obviously very successful for these "super tech" companies (they are the richest in the world, as we all know, and have tremendous power). Zuboff wants people to revolt against surveillance capitalism and push governments to heavily regulate tech; while at the same time acknowledging China and other countries has fully embraced similar models; but I don't want to spoil the book for those who have read it yet.
My take on this is that it is up to us, the little people, to develop our own "instrumentarian power"; but not for the sake or benefit of surveillance capitalism, but against it.
In other words, we should move to search engines which do not track our every movement, and should move to small, niche social networks that do not track our behavior or process our "behavioral exhaust" to create behavioral models to target, influence and manipulate us.
So, in practical terms, unix.com is like a small "mom and pop" grocery store or book store. We do not create behavioral models on user behavior and nor do we sell advertising based on any models created from "behavioral data". In fact, we do not even show ads to registered users. I have always put the users above profit and always will.
So, back to Stack* and other large social networks with huge commercial investments. All of them, to my knowledge, rely on some form of surveillance capitalism to make money. That is how they pay the bills (and get rich). There are no other ways (so the tech firms have showed us) for these tech firms to make money (and make investors in stock markets happy) but from models which predict human behavior coming out of "big data" and the bigger the social network, the more raw materials to produce behavioral models. These predictive behavioral models are the products advertisers are willing to pay for. I am guessing Slack* and other big social tech communities have a similar model and so their corporate governance policy is as other large corporate-based communities which produce predictive behavioral models from the "behavioral byproducts" of all online activity (clicks, likes, connections, every aspect of online life).
All I can say, in near conclusion, and that I have never worked for any such corporation, never would, and never will (but of course I am retired from all that anyway); and this site will never engage in any form of behavioral analysis to help advertisers target users. Honestly, I am basically "disgusted" by this consumer model of turning "online behavioral exhaust" into profit. But, as a very small, tiny, little, fish, most insignificant person in the vast, huge, world of dystopian, topsy-turvey, surveillance capitalism we live in today, I can offer some advice:
- Try to engage in online communities which are small and not huge "behavioral analysis" machines (like our small community and others like it who do not operate a "surveillance capital" business model).
- Try to use search engines which do not track your every click and scroll.
- Try to avoid all the large social networks and look for smaller online communities; or build your own.
- All of you have the power to build your own IT systems and networks, to create your own form of "instrumentarian power" (no matter how small it may seem). It is mind-boggling how much high quality free software is available to everyone on the planet. Use these gifts wisely to create your own networks and build your own future.
- Do not let huge surveillance capital driven corporations determine your future. You have a choice. When you choose large social networks which are very commercial in nature, they must push the boundaries on what we consider "acceptable" to generate revenue from human behavioral exhaust.
- Do not buy nor user IoT devices which require you to "register and login" to use. The next bit wave of "surveillance capitalism" is coming from IoT devices. Beware! Do you want "Big Other" knowing every time you open the refrigerator or turn on a light bulb? Just think of what behavior models "they" can and certainly will create and sell from all that IoT "behavioral exhaust" raw material.
The only way to "fight back" that I can think of is to build it yourself. Do not allow yourself to be dependent on being a member of a very large online community which is backed by big money. They all must depend on surveillance to turn a profit. Resist the "feeling" or the "need" to be a part of something much bigger than yourself (the huge online communities) and lower your dependance on them. Build your own "home automation" system. You don't need "the big others" do be a part of it. Build your own systems; it's easy and very inexpensive these days. Drop your dependance on "big tech and big networks doing it for you." Give up the "candy" and live a healthier life, for you, your family and your families future. Our children need for you to move away from dependance on "big tech". Build the tech you need, yourself.
Well, I have already said a lot on these connected topics.
Live Long and Prosper
Resist all forms of surveillance capitalism. The future depends on it.
Thanks for getting this far in a very important story.
Neo
