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Comment by metoobruh | Hacker News Reader

When it comes to enslavement to giant corporations or government, all I can say is:

"The only winning move is not to play."

i rarely use ai, however i must constantly sift through ai blog posts like this one to find actual communication. should i leave the internet to win the game against ai? well i did the next best thing and got a nokia brick phone, yet facebook still knows how to recommend those i meet in real life!! i tried not playing but im still in the game. does that mean the only way i can win is to kill myself?

That strategy would not be guaranteed to work.

An AI simulation of you would post on HN.

Welcome to the future.

As always 99% of it is poor quality slop...

why are you on facebook?

i have an account from when i was a teenager that i sometimes use to talk to family. why do you ask? based on my anecdote we are all tracked by facebook, whether or not we are on facebook.

It was confusing hearing that Facebook was recommending people to you when you made it sound like you were choosing to opt out of those things.

I am not sure how your anecdote would show you are all tracked by Facebook even if you aren't on facebook; you only received recommendations for people to friend on facebook because you are on facebook. I am not on facebook, so i have never had facebook recommend anyone to me.

my phone cant run facebook. by choosing this phone i am opting not to have facebook track me on a constant basis. however, based on whatever signals are available to everyone elses phones, facebook still tracks me. and facebook is doing the same to everybody including you - not sure if youre aware of the concept of shadow profiles?

well you were asking how to get out of the game. leaving facebook is one of the necessary steps. it may not be enough, and some things from you may still be tracked by meta, but less is better. it's as simple as that. i do have sympathy with the fact that sometimes you just can't avoid it though. if you have family members that absolutely refuse to talk to you in any other way for example. so i ask to reflect if you really need it, or if you can find other ways to stay in touch with your family. (but the key point is the reflection, i am not expecting you to find a solution right away. the point is: always be aware why you are making that tradeoff. i would be on facebook too if i had people there that are important to me and that i could not reach any other way. i do know some people that are on facebook that i would like to be in contact with, so i can sympathize.)

Rather than asking him the question of why in a simple rudimentary form, give the guy motivation to quit facebook instead. Facebook employs guilt tactics about people they know to get them to stay, and if they quit, they're likely to go back because of in person connections. By sounding condescending, the person you're replying to is likely to justify staying rather than quitting.

i think your advice would apply in a standard human situation where optimal communication requires decoration, in this scenario i reciprocated the communication format which indicates acceptance

> yet facebook still knows how to recommend those i meet in real life!!

Meta is an awful company but they don't have Enemy of the State level surveillance.

If you met someone in real life and then Facebook recommended them to you the leak here was almost certainly a human one, eg. the person you met googled you and clicked your Facebook profile when it showed up (while they themselves were logged into Facebook) and that's how Facebook made the connection.

So don't kill yourself. Life is very short anyway, enjoy the absurdity of it while you can.

i was verbally introduced to somebody (that i have 1 mutual friend with) for a grand total of 30 seconds, facebook knew about it an hour later. nobody involved used their phones much during that hour. based on this occurence, facebook's intrusiveness is clearly deep enough. i appreciate the advice not to commit suicide - another responder was correct that i would be digitally resurrected as a pure profit vehicle anyway

Again it's almost certainly other people using their phones. One of your facebook contacts friended this person, maybe even before you shook their hand, facebook is going to recommend you friend them too. I don't friend anyone any more on facebook and the last time I did I lived in another country. It knows where I live now but it has never recommended anyone close by to friend. However, I do get friendship recommendations for folks in the country I moved away from, and I'm sure if I lived there still I'd have actually bumped into said people and thought "huh coincidence that facebook recommended them or are they spying on me?!?!"

It’s nice to be rich I guess

It's even nicer having freedom.

Often bought with riches.

More often with principles.

i think you underestimate the starting capital required to be able to stand with principles in the modern world. I'm lucky to be in such a position, but I'm also aware few are.

You don't need money to live a principled life. Change your life lens. Seek the truth, change the company. There are several places that don't ask you to compromise your morals or principles. Be in touch with principled people, learn from them. I never care about money and so I never have it but I have never been found wanting when I need it. God will make it happen. No worries.

Freedom is pretty useless without food

The other day I was digging through a grocery store dumpster, pulling out a truck load of good food for free, as usual. A couple young Indian immigrants came walking by, avoiding eye contact with this dirty, low class American. I offered one of them a beer. He was excited for about .5 seconds, then asked, "Wait, did that come out of the dumpster?" and suddenly decided he didn't want it. Shrug. Back to the cubicle for him I guess.

Or be willing to move.

Or be willing to do without all the fluff and luxuries and live a simple and humble life, to avoid enslavement of oneself and one's family to the Beast.

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