2020 election will be Larry Page running against Mark Zuckerberg

I don't know about you, but I'll be voting for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson[0].

[0]: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-...

Trump would probably be a better candidate than either of them, at least he’s actually run a business and would have four years of presidential experience.

Your comment implies that Mark Zuckerberg has not run a business.

Nor Larry Page!

The problem with the Trump era is that part of the political establishment is so divorced from reality that expressions of support are indistinguishable from sarcasm.

The biases tend to show up in the details that are left out rather than any details that are falsified. That's what tends to make it so hard for the general public, because if you don't know what's being left out before you read the story you only get the perspective being framed.

That's the trouble with fact check. It gives the illusion of that you're seeing the entire picture when you could just be looking through a keyhole and not know it.

They wouldn't be in the position to guide content if it weren't for users submitting that choice to them.

I agree with your sentiment and I too am uncomfortable with it, but we the individuals should take responsibility and ownership of our consumption. It sounds like you are preparing to do so, but I don't have high hopes for society at large.

I might extrapolate that at some point I would have pinned the blame entirely on Google, and then rattled about how they have a "social responsibility" and perhaps that's still true. But I am seeing that really, we took the spade to dig a flowerbed, and haven't wavered a bit as it's deepened into a grave.

I share your outlook on the future of society with regards to its relationship of the mass with technology and privacy. If anything the last decade has shown us, it's that the average person will readily sacrifice freedom and privacy for security and convenience at the earliest opportunity and almost entirely without question or protest.

With that being said, I've some feeling that the "consent" FB and Google have from its users to essentially bulk collect and analyze their data may largely stem from ignorance as to what is being collected and how it's being used i.e. the relationship between the content one produces in Gmail and the ads that same person receives.

That's a tightly coupled, straightforward relationship too. I've no doubt that the average person has zero idea what is involved when Google touts that it can now confidently track an ad being served/viewed online to an in-store, in-person purchase offline.

Then again, with the Snowden leaks and similar and the absolutely apathetic (at best) reaction from the public at large, maybe convenience merely trumps all and will forever more.

Revolutions have only been started by a lack of food or money. Or because a very unpopular ruler.

So either basic needs or some basic needs + emotions.

If people have a decent job, a house and a car they'll basically never rebel.

If people are very badly in need they can not sacrifice the time to rebel. It's somewhat counterintuitively the perceived oppressive poverty combined with an increase in wealth that enables revolutionary activity.

Agree to it or not, all B2C companies want to maximize the time you spend with them and therefore, will push everyone for consumption rather than creation.