Most of the smartest people of my generation have dedicated their lives to building super-computers to point at peoples' brains and make them want to buy things.

I suppose it's marginally better than fractionally growing somebody else's pile of money.

If by "buying things" that includes buying into pervasive detachment from reality (ie, Q related posts) then maybe it's even worse.

Not many cultures have ever been free from widespread pervasive detachment from reality. By default, that's religion, though some political ideologies and superstitions have also filled that need. If you really don't like it, you probably don't like humans. And I tend to agree, humans have a fault in their brains causing irrational beliefs, but it probably serves some more valuable purpose than being right.

Religion is arguably useful to those who follow it (state of mind, material benefits) vs. those who are in the out-group.

Could the same be said of Q content?

While I don't really know anything about Qanon. I guess it provides a sense exclusive group membership, similar to flat-Earthism. Not just anybody can join for the same reason not just anybody can suddenly believe a goddess molded a living child from the dirt she scraped off her body.

If the detachment from reality drives engagement and leaves people in a susceptible state to advertisement, more the better.

they were probably more likely to end up in finance tbh

I see these waves of ads for particular categories often on Facebook. Low-alcohol or non-alcoholic cocktails are still going strong, though they've been eclipsed by ads for a very particular kind of faux-athletic shoe (pretty sure they're exactly the same shoe even though it's a dozen companies). I have to admit, after a while I sometimes do get a bit curious. The frequency itself makes some part of my brain think this must be A Thing, and that I must pursue The Thing, even though my rational brain knows it's entirely otherwise. It's a powerful effect. Whether intentionally or not, I think Facebook's ad-selection algorithms create these "category waves" even across multiple products and vendors because they do work. Therefore it's not surprising that such a wave related to the most controllable of minds is the biggest of all.

Funny, when I read that part my reaction was "this has to be a joke".

You don't think it's possible that ads make people want things they don't need?

Or to put it another way, you believe advertising is not effective at all on anyone?

I don't believe the author's bizarre story that, while pretending to be a Trump supporter on the internet, he was brainwashed into wanting to buy a gun by nefarious advertisers. People are susceptible to advertising but we aren't that susceptible.

I bet the author is very concerned about "internet radicalization". I bet he's so concerned that he began to feel the stirrings of his own radicalization while pretending to support Trump on the internet. The article is a fantasy brought on by what the author expected to feel.

All respect, but if you didn't find the part of the article you quoted funny, your bullshit barometer needs to be recalibrated.

I stopped reading when I reached that part of the article. The way it was described made it unbelievable to me; That ads made the author feel "convinced [they] needed them". The author is being melodramatic throughout the entire article.

> People are susceptible to advertising but we aren't that susceptible.

I know a guy who bought a $500 axe (for chopping wood) from one of those "be a manly man" e-commerce sites that popped up a few years ago. He had never chopped wood before, and to this day he never has chopped wood. Ads convinced him he wanted it.

The same is true of all the ads from those companies, selling beautiful, sturdy compasses or hunting knives that never get dull.

Guns can be beautiful, well-made objects. They can make someone feed safe and prepared. I don't see any reason an ad couldn't convince someone that they want/need one, especially if they're seeing dozens of ads a day.

There is a reason why commercial companies spend a lot of money on ads. They work. A lot more than people want to believe. Ads tell you how to be a man, how to be successful and admired by your peers, how to be attractive to potential partners, how to secure your future etc. Repeat it enough times and you will start to believe it. You probably believe that you need to eat meat for protein right? And that you should drink milk for calcium right? All BS successfully programmed into you through ads.