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Comment by diego_moita | Hacker News Reader

Every form of manipulation of people through information is a "cancer": advertising, political ideologies, religion, escapist entertainment, etc.

The problem is that truth is very hard to establish for those that don't want and don't understand logic. They're "cancers" that people want because they're comfortable with it.

Also, if we try to control these cancers by restricting what information is allowed we will create an authoritarian society.

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That is a false dichotomy. We can certainly place restrictions without resulting in an authoritarian society. We can ban billboards. (Some states do this). We can ban gambling and drug ads. We can place ownership limits on media markets. There are all things we have had in the us at various times and in various places.

>Every form of manipulation of people through information is a "cancer"

Not really. Everything that can change minds (including discussion, the news, and art) is a form of manipulation of people through information. Who draws the line what's good manipulation and what's bad manipulation (or, which is the same, what is legit mind changing and what's not)?

Nah, advetising is a cancer all of its own

Do you consider escapist entertainment malicious in nature, or were you not using the word "manipulation" in a malicious sense? Or is this not an applicable modeling of what you were saying?

How do you define escapist entertainment specifically, provided you do consider it malicious? I struggle to think of a form of entertainment that isn't on some level a possible escape.

"The problem is that truth is very hard to establish for those that don't want and don't understand logic"

Not every truth is revealed through logic.

What truths are not revealed through logic in your opinion?

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