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Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by IvyMike on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @03:26AM (#27525838)
Leela : Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?

Fry : Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by hangonhn on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @04:41AM (#27526301)
I never appreciated Futurama when I was younger. At the time it felt like worse Simpsons but in the future. But later on I realized it’s a really good critique of our contemporary society disguised as the future looking back on us with Fry standing in for the audience. Some of the jokes are funny because they’re so biting.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by THJr on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @09:18AM (#27528184)
I remember an interview they did with some of the writers, and they were talking about how they included certain items (eg. room-size computers) to be silly and anachronistic, but others (eg. dvd players) to help relate things to current times. They said that when they were writing the final seasons, the team couldn't tell which items in the earliest seasons were supposed to be relatable and which were supposed to be silly.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by kadoban on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @09:35AM (#27528354)
A _lot_ of sci-fi in general is social commentary and/or recreational sociology.

By moving the setting to an unfamiliar one, you can make parallels to back to _familiar_ societies in a way that allows the audience to see them with a new eye. It's a nice trick to get around familiarity blindness and sidestep some biases.

Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by handrous on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @11:18AM (#27529486)
Black Mirror's Fifteen Million Merits is entirely an exercise in this.

"Gee, the apparent pointlessness of these jobs sure is dystopic, huh?" pauses, stares significantly straight at the audience

"Turning every little thing into a carefully-metered financial transaction sure is dystopic, huh?" pauses, stares at audience

"These screen-centric disconnected lives sure are dystopic, huh?" stares at audience

"Really horrible how they shit on the infirm or those who otherwise fall out of society and don't take their pointless jobs seriously enough, huh? I mean, what an awful system, right? Why, this is so obviously terrible and evil that it'd never exist in real life, in such a blatant way. Just ridiculous." stares at audience, judging them

"Amazing how this society's mass media so effectively and complete captures and commercializes dissent, isn't it? How awful!" stares at audience

"All these people could have just left and gone off into the forest instead of participating in, being ground down by, or willfully perpetuating this nonsense, and didn't just because that's scary and unfamiliar? What kind of cowards and/or monsters must these people be?" stares loooooong and hard at the audience

Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by godelski on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @01:55PM (#27531444)
Most stories are in general, but sci-fi in particular looks at society, politics, and their relationship to technology. Sci-fi frequently addresses issues of wealth inequality. I'm always amazed at how many people didn't realize Blade Runner was a critique on Reganomics.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by spywaregorilla on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @08:37AM (#27527792)
The simpsons was pretty on spot too, but it was easier to just laugh at homer if the satire was over your head
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by BurningFrog on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @09:29AM (#27528299)
Well, a critique of society 2 decades ago.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by beebeepka on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @04:08AM (#27526101)
We all had commercials in our dreams, but you don't see us running off to buy brand-name merchandise at low, low prices.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by FridayoLeary on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @09:37AM (#27528370)
Thank god that at least google, fb, amazon etc. are trying so hard to improve our advertising experience as much as possible. Where would we be if the ads directed at us were not so personalized....
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by spacemark on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @12:02PM (#27530053)
Please tell me this comment is satire... honestly can't tell these days.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by FridayoLeary on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @05:16PM (#27533584)
That comment was satire.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by laurent92 on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @03:01PM (#27532189)
Turns out Google’s AI is directed towards advertisers to guess how to make them pew the money the most inefficiently possible ;) Seriously those ads are inefficient for the immense majority of small shop owners.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by Milner08 on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @04:19AM (#27526153)
This is exactly what came to mind when I read the title. Now I need to go and watch Futurama again..
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by naoru on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @06:48AM (#27526994)
Seems like it was a subliminal ad for Futurama then.
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by accountofme on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @08:35AM (#27527779)
nah, that was the hypnotoad....
Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by azekai on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @01:22PM (#27531042)
The hypnotoad isn't subliminal, it obvious and total mental domination.

All hail the hypnotoad!

Re:Researchers fear a scenario in which smart speakers feed ... by failwhaleshark on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @11:58AM (#27529995)
Fry always forgets movie product placement, manufactured consent, and manufactured insecurities.