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Comment by LarsDu88 | Hacker News Reader

Your idea of what would "make the user experience better" can be very different from what actually makes the experience more profitable to Meta.

As far as I can tell, the things that actually drives engagement are ragebait political videos, thirst traps, and fake AI generated videos of cats robbing liquor stores.

The investors have rewarded Meta with something like 5x stock increase since abandoning the Metaverse.

It's time to realize that "embrace the stupid" is indeed a viable business strategy and an accurate reflection of our society.

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Man, I hate to admit it but there's an element of truth here.

Sometimes I think there's a perspective from which suppliers (politicians, social media producers) are right thinking their customers as idiots and manipulatble even though customer-driven ought to be the goal.

I think Steve Jobs said something along these lines once. That when he was young he thought "the man" was spoonfeeding idiocy to the masses through television to keep them complacent, but as he grew older he realized that the masses wanted stupid content and that rich people simple indulged people's base desires.

Agree ... there is a heavy element of truth in Job's observation.

I sometimes push back like this mentioning Marshal Tucker lyrics:

I heard it in a love song.

Can't be wrong.

No, the whole point is it is wrong: you were told what you wanted to hear. They got their's now where are you? Stop believing the nonsense!

Fleetwood Mac's players only love you when they're playin' is the same sentiment.

Where oh where is our vaunted common sense? Atticus had it in to kill a mockingbird. Alas Job reminds Atticus is the exception.

This more so applies to current American politics ... which has been on my mind of late.

This is because put simply, at the core, humans are dumb. We are only intelligent to the extent we acquire knowledge and formalise it to understand the world and make rational decisions to ensure one is better off.

GIven that the majority do not possess this trait, the outcome is nothing but inevitable. The mistake Jobs made was assuming that what he thought about the world should ring true for everyone.

The evolution of Meta/FB is quite interesting.

It started off seemingly innocent - the mission of connecting folks. However, there was no money in that.

Where is the money? Content production. What content generates a continuous growing stream of earnings? Content that appeals to the senses of all kinds - including selling a get rich fast dream to girls promoting their OF pages.

What you have is an environemnt that preys and feeds off of consumers who have a lack of discipline with their money and are easy to manipulate - providing a nice ROAS. This is Meta in a nutshell.

Zuck enjoys roll playing a roman emperor - I have no doubt behind the scenes he laughs at his contribution toward the declining tastes, standards and self control of individuals.

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