All societies have an attention economy and spam is a "great" way of getting it. It's incorrect to assume other economic systems would not have this problem.

It's easy to say that, but it makes me wonder to what extent that's just projecting our culture onto all other possible realities due to a failure of imagination/taking aspects of our culture as immutable laws of nature.

I think it's way too easy to allude to 'other economic systems' without at all describing how your fiction would be reality.

> but it makes me wonder to what extent that's just projecting our culture onto all other possible realities due to a failure of imagination/taking aspects of our culture as immutable laws of nature.

Right, so lets see, you're hiding something that only you know, for God knows what reason. Then pretending that its other people failing to reach your level of knowledge in the world. You're the all seeing, who knows better than the rest of humanity. We might as well anoint you.

Go on, prove it. I'll ask every single time, and I bet all I will get is cryptic and imprecise responses.

I'm not trying to advocate for communism, if that's what you mean. But yes, in a planned economy, there is no incentive for companies to try to spam you. It doesn't mean that it's a better system or that there aren't other problems with it.

I meant what I said. I think we do have a tendency to project our norms onto other cultures and systems.

Why did you write the exact same comment again?

?

Or even one where the profit motive exists, but doesn't supersede our responsibility to care for each other and the environment we share.

psychologically and in fact, biologically.. the lowest-simplest-most virulent forms of life simply eat whatever, take whatever, shit where-ever.. To know this and distinguish that among other life forms, IMO is basic to self-reflective intelligence. Those individuals without critical thinking skills, on the co-dependent super-highway, that take kindness to mean "anything goes" .. are the support group for this obviously ill behavior. Incredibly fast computers and networks are the enabler.

I'd agree that there's a strong link between the selfish and the lowest, simplest, forms of life. After billions of years of evolution we really should be better.

All economic systems follow the principle of the profit motive. Some of them try to hide that reality from the masses behind various lies and obfuscations.

You could argue that, but I wouldn't believe you. Someone could simply decide to be annoying, like kids throwing eggs at houses. There is nothing "in it for them" but they do it anyway. Hell, it was inevitable that someone's program that posts to a list of groups would screw up and hit massive numbers of targets. No profit, no motive even, just pure accident.

It was inevitable because the design was naive, like the r commands.

sure, but kids throwing eggs at houses isn't as systemic a problem as abusive marketing

I doubt I'd be charmed with getting the latest state propaganda that I'm required to listen to or my social credit score gets debited.

but you'd be able to find it quickly in your inbox!