So real quick, I'm a fan of the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but that's not the point of the post, just part of it. The show is generally targeted towards kids, and includes a lot of messages and explorations of friendship and other interpersonal relationships. There is certainly conflict throughout the series, and most of the conflicts are concluded by means of friendship or understanding, rather than violence or dominance - as you would expect from a show created with children in mind.
I purchased Tales of Equestria, a pen-and-paper roleplaying game set in the land of Equestria, which also discussed a lot of the ideas about stories and conflicts for those telling the stories. It highlighted the idea that violence or "scuffles" were not a major focus of problem solving, and further reinforced the idea that friendship and understanding should be the main means of conflict resolution. This idea sat around with me for a while, and eventually there was a moment where it clicked for me as I talked to my nephews and niece about the misbehavior of Silas.
"When people are being bad, it is usually because they are sad about something." This was how it came out as I tried to work them towards the idea. Upset is a fair bit more accurate, but I wanted to ensure the three of them understood the idea, not specifically a sentence. There are situations that motivations are generally irrelevant, but it is widely applicable that negative behavior stems from a negative reaction to something. Negative behavior is often symptomatic rather than spontaneous, and can be difficult to resolve by simply confronting the behavior.
Starlight Glimmer wasn't replacing cutie marks and trying to reshape all of society because she thought it would be fun, she was attempting to do so because she felt wronged by how society viewed the role cutie marks and many of the negative results thereof. This motivation didn't justify her actions, but understanding them is what helped Twilight Sparkle resolve the conflict. She couldn't best Starlight through might and magic, but through reshaping Starlight's perception she was able to bring a stop to the villainy.
Today, we want to build a giant wall out of a misplaced fear that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs. We believe that others pursuing life liberty and happiness may encroach on our own, and we work hard to dis-empower "Them". We believe that it is only through might and domination that we will not be dominated ourselves. While I may disagree with these beliefs and opinions, I have little hope of affecting them if I do not address the root of those beliefs.
From a position of privilege, I will make no headway in changing beliefs by attacking the individuals. I think most who know me are aware that I am appalled by the current administration and Trump in particular, but I am aware that if I make personal attacks that I won't change anyone's mind. I work hard to construct better arguments and encourage deeper understanding, much like we are taught by children's media. Thanks in large part to Fred Rogers, messages of kindness and understanding were taught to many children throughout the years - and I often feel like we perceive them as messages only to children that have no place in our adult "real" world.
My daily life is not encroached upon by discrimination and intolerance, and that is a privilege. I disagree with violence and aggressive behavior generally, but this is a stance that is most easily taken from a position of privilege, and I believe it is important that I recognize this. It's why I was able to believe that discrimination was anecdotal, since there are things like OSHA and Equal Opportunity Employment. It's why I used to consider Affirmative Action as a double-standard rather than trying to understand the incredible disparity in the workforce. I've tried to catch my own reactions and examine them, and there are times I've been narrow-minded - and that's not something I want to be. I don't want to be a bigot(because I'd like to think I'm a decent human being), so it's important that I try to consider and understand my beliefs and actions as well.
Trot On Everypony,
Alturiigo
Monday, August 13, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Thoughts on Universal Basic Income and Standard of Living
With the rise of automation and advanced robotics interfacing, manual labor and many common jobs can be replaced with automated staff and equipment, and this has led to questions about the role of jobs as a means of income in the future. One thought which has been proposed as a reaction to this is the idea of Universal Basic Income, an allocation of money or credit to citizens on a regular basis for the purpose of supporting a basic standard of living.
Minimum wage and the existing concept of a "standard of living" wage are similar in some regards to this, as a measure to ensure that someone who is working or productive in some manner is able to support themselves on a basic level. If many jobs, sources of that basic income, become automated it could cause a lot of people to be in incredibly unfortunate circumstances to say the least. And sure, that's not anyone else's problem, the world isn't fair. Business is as business does. I think leaving it at that though leaves us to decide if we're okay with the kind of society and structure which that creates, or perhaps more accurately, has created.
We should all be able to look out for ourselves, and I understand how that mentality is a part of resistance to the idea of a single-payer healthcare system(what does that mean exactly, you got me) - but I honestly think most people would think of a good country as one that affords its citizens a basic standard of living as seen by the existing minimum wage and labor laws, as well as ideas like Welfare and Social Security. Putting a program into place like this is difficult, and arguably that difficulty of execution is what has led to the many shortcomings of Welfare and Social Security. I don't think that means we shouldn't have a goal of better lives for our citizens.
Establishing what a "basic standard of living" is will be a difficult task, but one that is crucial to the ideas behind Universal Basic Income and similar concepts, as UBI is generally intended to provide access to that "basic standard of living". My pitch and reason for posting, is that, what if, we could find a way to directly apply this Universal Basic Income to things like healthcare and housing? What if you could opt to do this, or still go about your life while receiving the money or credit from the UBI? What if there was an insurance provider through the government in addition to the existing options, which you could use your UBI for?
I don't know what would work, but I do know that I believe that as we make progress as a society and a civilization, we've become much more capable of offering better lives for all - and I think actually doing so is something to strive for. In the spirit of Minimum Wage and Universal Basic Income, I think we should figure out the standard of living we expect and strive to meet that, to make that a reality.
Thanks for your time,
Alturiigo
Minimum wage and the existing concept of a "standard of living" wage are similar in some regards to this, as a measure to ensure that someone who is working or productive in some manner is able to support themselves on a basic level. If many jobs, sources of that basic income, become automated it could cause a lot of people to be in incredibly unfortunate circumstances to say the least. And sure, that's not anyone else's problem, the world isn't fair. Business is as business does. I think leaving it at that though leaves us to decide if we're okay with the kind of society and structure which that creates, or perhaps more accurately, has created.
We should all be able to look out for ourselves, and I understand how that mentality is a part of resistance to the idea of a single-payer healthcare system(what does that mean exactly, you got me) - but I honestly think most people would think of a good country as one that affords its citizens a basic standard of living as seen by the existing minimum wage and labor laws, as well as ideas like Welfare and Social Security. Putting a program into place like this is difficult, and arguably that difficulty of execution is what has led to the many shortcomings of Welfare and Social Security. I don't think that means we shouldn't have a goal of better lives for our citizens.
Establishing what a "basic standard of living" is will be a difficult task, but one that is crucial to the ideas behind Universal Basic Income and similar concepts, as UBI is generally intended to provide access to that "basic standard of living". My pitch and reason for posting, is that, what if, we could find a way to directly apply this Universal Basic Income to things like healthcare and housing? What if you could opt to do this, or still go about your life while receiving the money or credit from the UBI? What if there was an insurance provider through the government in addition to the existing options, which you could use your UBI for?
I don't know what would work, but I do know that I believe that as we make progress as a society and a civilization, we've become much more capable of offering better lives for all - and I think actually doing so is something to strive for. In the spirit of Minimum Wage and Universal Basic Income, I think we should figure out the standard of living we expect and strive to meet that, to make that a reality.
Thanks for your time,
Alturiigo
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Thoughts On Management and Accountability
I've worked in restaurants quite a bit, both as just a basic employee and as a shift manager, including the positions between such as a trainer of other employees. I want to share some of my thoughts about being a manager-level employee and how that relates to responsibility.
Managers tend to make more than the employees under them, and often are offered additional benefits such as a free meal, a larger discount, full-time hours, offering insurance, maybe vacation hours. The thing is, these things don't work a simply as just receiving more benefits, in the sense that they are offered as compensation for increased responsibility, or perhaps, accountability. As a manager or shift leader, you are responsible for the business and the employees during your shift. When they mess up, that's on you - and taking responsibility for that isn't just yelling at them - it's understanding why the mistake was made, and taking action to correct and prevent the mistake or error from occurring again. When something goes wrong, it's your responsibility to do your best to correct or improve the situation. As a leader, you are accountable - because you are the leader.
These ideas are really important to my idea of being a leader, that accepting such a role(of leader) means accepting accountability for what you are leading. Even when things go wrong that are out of my control, I am still responsible for whatever action or inaction I take in handling the situation, because I accepted that responsibility when accepted my position. I've thought about this a lot lately as I see many discussions about issues such as families being separated, with many arguments being more focused on responsibility through the lens of blame, rather than responsibility of action.
The actions being taken by members of the government are actions that I thought were not acceptable to our society, and as a member of that society, my primary concern is that it does not continue to happen, and that we take prompt action in correcting these atrocities. My concern lies less with actions taken and establishing blame, but rather with the responsibility of improving and correcting the situation. I don't care if the law that is "being followed" was passed by a previous administration, I care about what we are doing to change things for the better - and that responsibility lies with our leaders as much as ourselves. Being a leader isn't about pointing your finger at others or simply passing the blame - it's about accepting responsibility and being accountable for your actions.
"With great power comes great responsibility" - popularized by Spiderman, I agree with this idea pretty strongly. A concept that many stories in comics touch on, is that a major difference between "heroes" and "villains" is simply how they use(or don't) their power. So for me, a powerful leader who does not hold themselves accountable and refuses accept the responsibility of the role they've accepted, is frightening. I know the world isn't fair, and that nothing works perfectly and that not everyone can be happy - but that doesn't condone or excuse mistreatment of other human beings. It's painfully obvious to look through history and see that what is law is not always what is right - and yeah, we should be always pursuing a better form of governing - and it pains me to think that some of the dehumanizing laws speak more truly our country's beliefs than I thought.
I'd like to believe the good ol' US of A is a country that values human lives, affords everyone the opportunity to be the best selves they can be, and protects the basic human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I want to take pride in my country and its pursuit of being better, accepting when it is wrong so it can learn to be right, a country that doesn't just say it's the best, but actively tries to make that a reality. And yeah, "being the best" is defined differently to each of us, but I for one can take no pride in knowing that human lives have been abused and destroyed willingly and knowingly by my country. As a citizen, I feel like I am responsible and certainly that is true - so I'm going to end it with this anecdote for comparison.
When several incidents at Starbucks locations occurred involving racism, the company acted with some accountability, acknowledging that they were responsible for the actions of their employees and the culture of their franchise. The individual employees were responsible, but as employers the company was responsible for their staff, and took actions representative of that responsibility, such as enforcing all locations to close for mandatory meeting in an attempt to address the issue. I don't want our president to ignore the responsibility over the actions of the government, whether he specifically was responsible for the situation or not - that is what it means to be a leader, a responsibility that comes with power - but ultimately, a responsibility.
I don't think I can say much more and keep this coherent and maybe I should express more outrage, but this was not for me to make myself feel better. I wanted to express my belief that leaders should be held to a high expectation, as the responsibility demands it. I believe that accepting the role of leadership is accepting the responsibility.
Thanks for your time,
Alturiigo
Managers tend to make more than the employees under them, and often are offered additional benefits such as a free meal, a larger discount, full-time hours, offering insurance, maybe vacation hours. The thing is, these things don't work a simply as just receiving more benefits, in the sense that they are offered as compensation for increased responsibility, or perhaps, accountability. As a manager or shift leader, you are responsible for the business and the employees during your shift. When they mess up, that's on you - and taking responsibility for that isn't just yelling at them - it's understanding why the mistake was made, and taking action to correct and prevent the mistake or error from occurring again. When something goes wrong, it's your responsibility to do your best to correct or improve the situation. As a leader, you are accountable - because you are the leader.
These ideas are really important to my idea of being a leader, that accepting such a role(of leader) means accepting accountability for what you are leading. Even when things go wrong that are out of my control, I am still responsible for whatever action or inaction I take in handling the situation, because I accepted that responsibility when accepted my position. I've thought about this a lot lately as I see many discussions about issues such as families being separated, with many arguments being more focused on responsibility through the lens of blame, rather than responsibility of action.
The actions being taken by members of the government are actions that I thought were not acceptable to our society, and as a member of that society, my primary concern is that it does not continue to happen, and that we take prompt action in correcting these atrocities. My concern lies less with actions taken and establishing blame, but rather with the responsibility of improving and correcting the situation. I don't care if the law that is "being followed" was passed by a previous administration, I care about what we are doing to change things for the better - and that responsibility lies with our leaders as much as ourselves. Being a leader isn't about pointing your finger at others or simply passing the blame - it's about accepting responsibility and being accountable for your actions.
"With great power comes great responsibility" - popularized by Spiderman, I agree with this idea pretty strongly. A concept that many stories in comics touch on, is that a major difference between "heroes" and "villains" is simply how they use(or don't) their power. So for me, a powerful leader who does not hold themselves accountable and refuses accept the responsibility of the role they've accepted, is frightening. I know the world isn't fair, and that nothing works perfectly and that not everyone can be happy - but that doesn't condone or excuse mistreatment of other human beings. It's painfully obvious to look through history and see that what is law is not always what is right - and yeah, we should be always pursuing a better form of governing - and it pains me to think that some of the dehumanizing laws speak more truly our country's beliefs than I thought.
I'd like to believe the good ol' US of A is a country that values human lives, affords everyone the opportunity to be the best selves they can be, and protects the basic human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I want to take pride in my country and its pursuit of being better, accepting when it is wrong so it can learn to be right, a country that doesn't just say it's the best, but actively tries to make that a reality. And yeah, "being the best" is defined differently to each of us, but I for one can take no pride in knowing that human lives have been abused and destroyed willingly and knowingly by my country. As a citizen, I feel like I am responsible and certainly that is true - so I'm going to end it with this anecdote for comparison.
When several incidents at Starbucks locations occurred involving racism, the company acted with some accountability, acknowledging that they were responsible for the actions of their employees and the culture of their franchise. The individual employees were responsible, but as employers the company was responsible for their staff, and took actions representative of that responsibility, such as enforcing all locations to close for mandatory meeting in an attempt to address the issue. I don't want our president to ignore the responsibility over the actions of the government, whether he specifically was responsible for the situation or not - that is what it means to be a leader, a responsibility that comes with power - but ultimately, a responsibility.
I don't think I can say much more and keep this coherent and maybe I should express more outrage, but this was not for me to make myself feel better. I wanted to express my belief that leaders should be held to a high expectation, as the responsibility demands it. I believe that accepting the role of leadership is accepting the responsibility.
Thanks for your time,
Alturiigo
Monday, July 9, 2018
Thoughts on Community and Living
I wasn't really sure how to title this as a good summary so I'll try to convey a rough idea. What if we established living spaces designed around the concept of a neighborhood, with the goal of affordable standardized housing?
I had seen an old mall getting torn down, and was thinking about the rise of online shopping and greater access to goods from the comfort of your home contributing to a likely decline in demand for such a large shopping center as traditional malls(or else maybe makes them more important as a collection?). I had a thought that maybe old mall structures could be turned into some type of standardized housing such as apartment complexes. Another thought joined this one as I was considering neighborhoods, and how most of my life is contained within a smaller area despite living in part of a much larger city.
While nothing is absolute, a lot of lives are lived mostly within some type of neighborhood or smaller community, even when the entirety of that community is contained within another larger community. What if we kept that in mind when approaching the idea of this concept I'm referring to as "standardized living". Hrm. I should probably try to give some idea about what I mean with that.
So when I say standardized living, I'm trying to reach for an idea of, well, something standard. Similar to the idea of rent-control and community housing I guess, but for me I was trying to think of something closer to basic accommodations that... would be granted to every citizen? Okay so this is where it gets more difficult to think about execution of idea, because building these structures to support populations and provide a means of affordable living spaces is something I think could be positive, there could easily be a lot of ramifications not even just in implementation that would be socially troubling.
This thought/idea has come about for me because the concept of poverty is a troublesome subject everywhere in the world, and while extreme separation of wealth is certainly an issue, I also think that being in poverty does not mean you are less valid as a human being. I live in poverty by the definition as I make little more than $20,000 a year, though I only really have to support myself. I am able to pay my bills and I am not unhappy with myself or my life, but I do get annoyed when I'm made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with not seeking wealth. "Well you should get a better job" is an idea that I find almost infuriating, most specifically due to the idea that money paid directly correlates to value of work being performed and/or the "value" of the person.
Most people are aware that money doesn't exactly buy happiness, but it offers certain amounts of accessibility that most can benefit from, so no, I'm not gonna try to make an argument that poverty is good or wanting to have more money is bad. I am frustrated at not only the way we see poverty as a society, but also the way we view those with little monetary wealth. I don't know how to change that, but maybe we could find ways to reduce the negative impacts by rethinking some of the basic ways we live our lives. One possible approach that is being "tested" is the idea of basic universal income - What if everyone got a certain amount of money each month? Similar in someways to the idea of welfare, I see this a generalizing/simplifying that idea further. It's easy to think of how this idea would be "abused" when thinking about the Welfare system, though I think the sentiment of abuse is greatly tied to the fact that there are requirements to receive welfare.
You could just spend the money on your bills, but what if you could opt to put that money towards state-sponsored healthcare, or state-sponsored housing? This is where the idea to turn large structures like malls into communities came from. There are a lot of difficulties and almost unforeseeable problems that lie in such an idea, but we also have no certainty or much reason to believe that we are going about things in the best way possible as it is. Our communities are often arranged the way they are due to history, not just the events but the fact that things are always building and growing. Some of the troubles with things like public transit and poor layouts are linked strongly to this, and designing a new space with current "life" in mind could yield positive results in those areas.
Here's the thing - this is an idea about making lives better, and that's something I would like to be important to us as a society, a civilization. I mean yeah it kind of already is, but I think we could try to take another look at how we are trying to make basic life better, and one of the greatest ways I think we could do this is to approach accessibility to basic needs as a serious goal. The idea of universal healthcare is part of this, and is an issue in large part due to the inflated costs of healthcare, most especially here in the US. Ultimately though, the argument for universal healthcare is not an argument about wealth, but an argument about accessibility to basic human needs and quality of life.
I went off a little on a tangent there because I didn't feel right mentioning healthcare without addressing current issues of poor access to healthcare, but ultimately it still ties to the root of this housing idea - can we offer greater accessibility to basic needs to provide a better life for humans? I honestly think we have the ability to do this, but as a society we need to make a stronger commitment to improve the future, we need to believe we can do better and honestly try to get there. I would like to believe that the US is a good country because I want to believe that its people are(especially as I am American), and I believe that we can do better as a country in offering a basic quality of life to those who live here.
Thank you for your time,
Alturiigo
ps Originally this was going to be me talking about and exploring the idea of neighborhood in a single structure, so even though no one reads my blog if you leave a comment maybe I'll come back to explore that idea more specifically
I had seen an old mall getting torn down, and was thinking about the rise of online shopping and greater access to goods from the comfort of your home contributing to a likely decline in demand for such a large shopping center as traditional malls(or else maybe makes them more important as a collection?). I had a thought that maybe old mall structures could be turned into some type of standardized housing such as apartment complexes. Another thought joined this one as I was considering neighborhoods, and how most of my life is contained within a smaller area despite living in part of a much larger city.
While nothing is absolute, a lot of lives are lived mostly within some type of neighborhood or smaller community, even when the entirety of that community is contained within another larger community. What if we kept that in mind when approaching the idea of this concept I'm referring to as "standardized living". Hrm. I should probably try to give some idea about what I mean with that.
So when I say standardized living, I'm trying to reach for an idea of, well, something standard. Similar to the idea of rent-control and community housing I guess, but for me I was trying to think of something closer to basic accommodations that... would be granted to every citizen? Okay so this is where it gets more difficult to think about execution of idea, because building these structures to support populations and provide a means of affordable living spaces is something I think could be positive, there could easily be a lot of ramifications not even just in implementation that would be socially troubling.
This thought/idea has come about for me because the concept of poverty is a troublesome subject everywhere in the world, and while extreme separation of wealth is certainly an issue, I also think that being in poverty does not mean you are less valid as a human being. I live in poverty by the definition as I make little more than $20,000 a year, though I only really have to support myself. I am able to pay my bills and I am not unhappy with myself or my life, but I do get annoyed when I'm made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with not seeking wealth. "Well you should get a better job" is an idea that I find almost infuriating, most specifically due to the idea that money paid directly correlates to value of work being performed and/or the "value" of the person.
Most people are aware that money doesn't exactly buy happiness, but it offers certain amounts of accessibility that most can benefit from, so no, I'm not gonna try to make an argument that poverty is good or wanting to have more money is bad. I am frustrated at not only the way we see poverty as a society, but also the way we view those with little monetary wealth. I don't know how to change that, but maybe we could find ways to reduce the negative impacts by rethinking some of the basic ways we live our lives. One possible approach that is being "tested" is the idea of basic universal income - What if everyone got a certain amount of money each month? Similar in someways to the idea of welfare, I see this a generalizing/simplifying that idea further. It's easy to think of how this idea would be "abused" when thinking about the Welfare system, though I think the sentiment of abuse is greatly tied to the fact that there are requirements to receive welfare.
You could just spend the money on your bills, but what if you could opt to put that money towards state-sponsored healthcare, or state-sponsored housing? This is where the idea to turn large structures like malls into communities came from. There are a lot of difficulties and almost unforeseeable problems that lie in such an idea, but we also have no certainty or much reason to believe that we are going about things in the best way possible as it is. Our communities are often arranged the way they are due to history, not just the events but the fact that things are always building and growing. Some of the troubles with things like public transit and poor layouts are linked strongly to this, and designing a new space with current "life" in mind could yield positive results in those areas.
Here's the thing - this is an idea about making lives better, and that's something I would like to be important to us as a society, a civilization. I mean yeah it kind of already is, but I think we could try to take another look at how we are trying to make basic life better, and one of the greatest ways I think we could do this is to approach accessibility to basic needs as a serious goal. The idea of universal healthcare is part of this, and is an issue in large part due to the inflated costs of healthcare, most especially here in the US. Ultimately though, the argument for universal healthcare is not an argument about wealth, but an argument about accessibility to basic human needs and quality of life.
I went off a little on a tangent there because I didn't feel right mentioning healthcare without addressing current issues of poor access to healthcare, but ultimately it still ties to the root of this housing idea - can we offer greater accessibility to basic needs to provide a better life for humans? I honestly think we have the ability to do this, but as a society we need to make a stronger commitment to improve the future, we need to believe we can do better and honestly try to get there. I would like to believe that the US is a good country because I want to believe that its people are(especially as I am American), and I believe that we can do better as a country in offering a basic quality of life to those who live here.
Thank you for your time,
Alturiigo
ps Originally this was going to be me talking about and exploring the idea of neighborhood in a single structure, so even though no one reads my blog if you leave a comment maybe I'll come back to explore that idea more specifically
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Thoughts and Questions: Attention and Currency
Hey hey, Alturiigo here- and this is something I've been thinking about for some time, so let me just pretend for a few minutes like I have something thoughtful to say. One of the most valuable things you have to offer is your attention.
The importance of attention on both an individual and massive scale is something that I think can be easily forgotten about in daily life, in part because it's difficult not to be paying attention to something, even if it is just something in your head. The rise of social media has changed a lot of how people interact with each other, but also how we interact with the world - and how it interacts with us. Fake or skewed news is nothing recent, and advertising has been rather important building into our current day, but these things have had major impacts in recent years, things that accentuate the importance and value of attention.
Facebook, Google, think about Superbowl Ads, these things are likely to make you think of immense amounts of money - and that money is for the attention paid to them. Facebook and Google are also what they are because of data, but interestingly enough, the extensive use of their services is what generates the data. The troubling bit for me is that the amount of data is beyond a scope that we can really grasp. Each minute, something like five minutes of video is uploaded to YouTube, and I tried to be conservative with that estimate - that's nuts. You couldn't really finish watching it as a single person. The data is being collected for sure, but there aren't enough people to sort through it all and make sense of every bit, and that's where algorithms come in.
Algorithms determine the ads you see on Facebook, Google and YouTube, as well as many other instances, and when you watch videos on YouTube, the recommended videos are determined by algorithms, which try to offer videos that you are likely to watch. The same idea applies to Facebook and its endless scroll, attempting to maintain your engagement with posts that you are likely to interact with - better or worse. The troubling bit is that while we determined the algorithms and their intent, a few iterations later and how it actually makes the choices it does is beyond our comprehension. Sadly, I feel often upset that I can't offer any thought towards a "solution", as anything valuable such as attention or money(value itself) has many symptoms that seem, seem, to be unavoidable. They say money is the root of all evil, but money is just a way we tend to understand value.
What I can offer as something I believe to be helpful is the reminder that you can choose what you give your attention to, and the kind of attention that you give. Another symptom of the value of attention is "fake news" and click-bait, headlines and articles designed to draw attention. While some may simply be to attract attention this can be harmful, in addition to times that the intent is more maligned. Your attention is still the goal, making it one of the more powerful tools you have today. The viral videos, click-bait, fake news, all of these things have had major negative impacts in digital societies, and it is not an easy task to sort through everything that is thrown at us today.
Remember that you choose what you pay attention to, and now as much as ever, this is one of the most valuable things you can offer. Speak up and speak out as you know you should - you are never too small to matter.
Trot on Everypony,
Alturiigo
The importance of attention on both an individual and massive scale is something that I think can be easily forgotten about in daily life, in part because it's difficult not to be paying attention to something, even if it is just something in your head. The rise of social media has changed a lot of how people interact with each other, but also how we interact with the world - and how it interacts with us. Fake or skewed news is nothing recent, and advertising has been rather important building into our current day, but these things have had major impacts in recent years, things that accentuate the importance and value of attention.
Facebook, Google, think about Superbowl Ads, these things are likely to make you think of immense amounts of money - and that money is for the attention paid to them. Facebook and Google are also what they are because of data, but interestingly enough, the extensive use of their services is what generates the data. The troubling bit for me is that the amount of data is beyond a scope that we can really grasp. Each minute, something like five minutes of video is uploaded to YouTube, and I tried to be conservative with that estimate - that's nuts. You couldn't really finish watching it as a single person. The data is being collected for sure, but there aren't enough people to sort through it all and make sense of every bit, and that's where algorithms come in.
Algorithms determine the ads you see on Facebook, Google and YouTube, as well as many other instances, and when you watch videos on YouTube, the recommended videos are determined by algorithms, which try to offer videos that you are likely to watch. The same idea applies to Facebook and its endless scroll, attempting to maintain your engagement with posts that you are likely to interact with - better or worse. The troubling bit is that while we determined the algorithms and their intent, a few iterations later and how it actually makes the choices it does is beyond our comprehension. Sadly, I feel often upset that I can't offer any thought towards a "solution", as anything valuable such as attention or money(value itself) has many symptoms that seem, seem, to be unavoidable. They say money is the root of all evil, but money is just a way we tend to understand value.
What I can offer as something I believe to be helpful is the reminder that you can choose what you give your attention to, and the kind of attention that you give. Another symptom of the value of attention is "fake news" and click-bait, headlines and articles designed to draw attention. While some may simply be to attract attention this can be harmful, in addition to times that the intent is more maligned. Your attention is still the goal, making it one of the more powerful tools you have today. The viral videos, click-bait, fake news, all of these things have had major negative impacts in digital societies, and it is not an easy task to sort through everything that is thrown at us today.
Remember that you choose what you pay attention to, and now as much as ever, this is one of the most valuable things you can offer. Speak up and speak out as you know you should - you are never too small to matter.
Trot on Everypony,
Alturiigo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)