[ExI] How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

[William Flynn Wallace]

Paradoxically, I loooove competition, even if it causes the loser to be
disappointed.  Somehow if there is no money involved it just feels OK to
me.  In a car race, every participant pays a ton of money just to play, and
only one guy gets the checkered flag.  But that Indy500 is nothing but fun
to me, love it.  I will even play poker, for funsies.  But I don’t like
casino games.  Seems like a contradiction, ja?
spike

I would have to get out my resources to remember all the types, but here
are a few:  people who thrive on competition (won't even let their child
win at something); people who don't like competing with others; people
whose only competition is with themselves ("Did I perform to my best?");
people, like my wife, who are concerned more with other people's happiness
than their own (ideal volunteers at the Special Olympics) and don't like to
be singled out by winning something;  and there's the classic Type A
personality - love competition and Type B who doesn't;  there's more

from bill k

Are you upset that technology hijacks your agency? I am too. I’ve
listed a few techniques but there are literally thousands. Imagine
whole bookshelves, seminars, workshops and trainings that teach
aspiring tech entrepreneurs techniques like these. Imagine hundreds of
engineers whose job every day is to invent new ways to keep you
hooked.

The ultimate freedom is a free mind, and we need technology that’s on
our team to help us live, feel, think and act freely.
-----------------
Are you upset that marketers of other products and services study
psychology hard to sell you their offerings?  Madison Avenue or its like
have been around a very long time and with the progress of psychology they
have gotten better and better.  They want to make you want what they are
selling.  As old as selling.  Can sales techniques and marketing be immoral
or even illegal?  What if it's subliminal?

bill w

On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 7:44 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 31 May 2016 at 02:48, spike  wrote:
> > Odd angle on this: back when Robin Hanson gave us play money ideas
> futures,
> > we had a blast with that.  I had so much fun, won a lot of “money”
> (almost
> > all of it on predicting discovery intervals for Mersenne primes) and we
> just
> > had a rollicking good time.  But when real money ideas futures showed
> up, I
> > was disappointed, for I realized most of the participants would rather
> play
> > real money ideas futures.  To this day, I have refused to play that
> game.  I
> > get little pleasure in winning and none in losing.  None of this is
> > explained by BillW’s list: I don’t fear loss, have no religion or
> > superstitions, don’t have any security issues, wouldn’t miss a few bucks
> I
> > might lose on PredictIt.
> >
> > Paradoxically, I loooove competition, even if it causes the loser to be
> > disappointed.  Somehow if there is no money involved it just feels OK to
> me.
> > In a car race, every participant pays a ton of money just to play, and
> only
> > one guy gets the checkered flag.  But that Indy500 is nothing but fun to
> me,
> > love it.  I will even play poker, for funsies.  But I don’t like casino
> > games.  Seems like a contradiction, ja?
> >
>
>
> Variable reward is only one of the psychological tricks used to
> manipulate people using smart devices.
> The !0 techniques he explains in the article are:
>
> #1: If You Control the Menu, You Control the Choices
>
> #2: Put a Slot Machine In a Billion Pockets (i.e.VIVR)
>
> #3: Fear of Missing Something Important (FOMSI)
>
> #4: Social Approval
>
> #5: Social Reciprocity (Tit-for-tat)
>
> #6: Bottomless bowls, Infinite Feeds, and Autoplay
>
> #7: Instant Interruption vs. “Respectful” Delivery
>
> #8: Bundling Your Reasons with Their Reasons
>
> #9: Inconvenient Choices
>
> #10: Forecasting Errors, “Foot in the Door” strategies
>
> Summary And How We Can Fix This
>
> Are you upset that technology hijacks your agency? I am too. I’ve
> listed a few techniques but there are literally thousands. Imagine
> whole bookshelves, seminars, workshops and trainings that teach
> aspiring tech entrepreneurs techniques like these. Imagine hundreds of
> engineers whose job every day is to invent new ways to keep you
> hooked.
>
> The ultimate freedom is a free mind, and we need technology that’s on
> our team to help us live, feel, think and act freely.
> -----------------
>
>
> Basically if VIVR doesn't grab you, then one of the many, many other
> tricks will.
> That's why people become addicted to their smartphone without
> realising how their mind has been changed.
>
> BillK
>
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>
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