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0 pointsroenxi5y ago0 comments

That is like saying the taste of good food is an attack on our reward system. Attention works that way because it is often helpful.

On a normal day advertising is pretty useless. When the world is changing it is a very effective way to find that out. It is part of the system that drives rapid improvement.

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Chris20485y ago· 2 in thread

The sugar and salt added to food is an attack on our reward system - but that doesn't make it good food.

The fact is that human biological impulse does not line up with rational objectives. People wouldn't need to be subjected to ads if it was desirable - they'd ask for them, much like those "shopping channels" you can choose to watch.

roenxiOP5y ago

As a general comment - human biological impulses do generally line up with rational objectives. That is why we have them. Normally they line up with ideas that are so good it makes sense to embed them in how we live.

> People wouldn't need to be subjected to ads if it was desirable

Substantial value from ads is they communicate (1) what people didn't yet know existed and (2) what everyone else knows (because they saw the ad too).

Ads work by and large because people want the products that the ads are selling. A lot of ads are stupid and I'd personally rather not see them - but if I think that, they also probably aren't targeted at me.

Chris20485y ago

> That is why we have them

evolutionary objectives are not rational. Nor are they particularly up-to-date, especially sugar cravings. Addictions, vices and impulses of many kinds are not at all rational, and it is a virtue to have the willpower to resist them.

> (1) what people didn't yet know existed

This is far from the only objective, and the substance of many ads demonstrates this: why do brands like coca-cola pay top-dollar for superbowl ad time? You would think they are well known enough..

> (2) what everyone else knows

Ads are not knowledge, it is common cultural reference for the purpose of advertisement. I don't see the value in this if you are not an advertiser.

> Ads work by and large because people want the products that the ads are selling

If we follow the same logic, no one would object to ad blockers, b/c the people who want to see ads wouldn't use them.

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