Re:DOJ finally posted that “embarrassing” court doc Google w...
by Wowfunhappy on Saturday September 30, 2023 @02:45PM
(#37718470)
> This is a common failure mode tech people get into in debates: finding an extreme example as an analogy.
I don't agree with GP but I want to defend the analogy, which I found perfectly fair. Analogies help us understand the world and uncover internal contradictions in our thinking.
I thought vlovich123's sibling comment did a great job responding the analogy on its merits (making some of the same points you did).
You have an extremely wealthy corporation incentivized to collect massive amounts of very personal data about every part of you and you desires and psychology, incentivized and well-able to collect it in hidden and powerful ways across the web and build deep learning models of your psychology and desires, and store them in a place where it's possible for nefarious actors and governments to either legally or illegally access and use that information for unknown purposes. If you object to this characterization, fine, start with the objection, but it's an obvious characterization which I've presented, and it's obvious that this is what people are concerned about! Starting the conversation with "it's no different, philosophically, from your grocer knowing your love of chocolate" is such a non-starter only because it seems so disingenuous, like, how could you not see how your interlocutor sees it differently? It just presents so clean and abstract a little simplification, though, so it's handy for winning point in a debate setting.