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Comment by d--b | Hacker News Reader

This is not specific to AI, this should apply to capitalism as a whole. AI is just a tool. It's the value system that needs to be addressed. Data-driven capitalism usually has one objective: maximize profit.

Take youtube recommendation engine for instance. I am an engineer and I am really interested in a lot of stuff, physics, arts, economy, you name it. But on youtube I don't get recommendation for Feynman's lectures on Physics, or guided visits of the Louvre collection, I get shit like: "what happens if you throw a ton of dry ice in a pool" or "the sharpest knife made of cardboard" or "10 unforgettable goals".

This is pushing addictive crap on me, because the objective function of the recommendation engine literally is: maximize the time people spend watching stuff. Why? Because of ad revenues!

What culture needs to curb is capitalism. AI will follow.

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No, what we need to curb is agreeably unethical behaviors, and to delineate basic rights that need to be expressed in light of new technologies (like data privacy rights). This is regardless of any other socioeconomic structures, and ends up being the fundamental basis of complaints like what you raise.

> What culture needs to curb is capitalism.

I think this is even more specific: culture needs to curb advertising monetization. Google, FB, youtube, et al generally suck because they are rapidly evolving toward convergence with tabloid publishers.

>the sharpest knife made of cardboard

OMG, so I'm not the only one who gets these idiotic "sharpest knife made from cardboard/pasta/tinfoil/rice/wood" in their recommendations!

> the objective function ... is: maximize the time people spend watching stuff

Sure, but the real problem is how well it works. Humans eagerly eat it up because their behavioral heuristics aren't adapted and get gamed. Humans want it and enjoy it and can't get enough, even though it sucks up their time without tangible benefit.

Reducing the problem to "capitalism" is like saying the only problem humans have with opioids is that the Sacklers get filthy rich and therefore humanity would be fine if only everybody could get the stuff for free at a friendly neighborhood government drug outlet.

That's not the most outlandish idea though is it? Plenty of people argue that if there were more living wage paying jobs, better universal healthcare, and legalized drugs then the opioid crisis wouldn't be as huge, or even exist as it currently does. That being said I agree that

> is like saying the only problem

capitalism cannot be the only thing to blame, but separating out the correlations versus the side effects of capitalism is a huge academic discussion in it's own right.

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