“If there are eyes somewhere, put a screen in front of it.” could be the mantra for the 21st century so far. I wonder and worry about the tablet toddlers in the shopping cart and at restaurants and what kind of world they will create when they have spent their whole lives looking at a reality several times removed from Plato’s shadows on the wall of the cave. These stupid cooler screens are just more fake reality for them to consume.
The show Legion had an excellent vignette about this very topic near the end of season 2. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHj2slKBF98 for reference). I thought it was pretty well done, although it doesn't really answer any questions, just raises the topic.
the future could have been amazing but advertisers only view things as places to put advertisements.
i have a strong feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better.
The ad industry is not Midas, but Mierdas: everything it touches turns to shit.
Re:Cooler Screens
by marcosdumay on Monday October 23, 2023 @12:46PM
(#37988207)
Anybody that uses "Midas touch" in a positive way completely failed to grasp the story.
In a culture where 'greed is good' turning (spoiler alert) your own daughter into inert gold is considered 'smart monetization.'
Re:Cooler Screens
by standardly on Monday October 23, 2023 @05:32PM
(#37991872)
Yeah! We call that liquidity
we're creating value by turning everything into gold! most won't ever be turned into pure gold, so let us create our value as we see fit. we're hurting no one; you say we are, that this lump of gold was a person, well that skeleton over there was a person, too, and that person died without the pure GIFT of being turned into gold and becoming pure value. That could have been that person's religion! Are you saying that you do not respect freedom of religion! Look at this guy, he doesn't want to turn people into gold-colored value!
You underestimate the mind’s potential. One can separately consider the tragedy and utility of his wish. (Guiding the reader to do so is kind of the purpose of the story, isn’t it?) As a bonus, doing so opens up delightful phrases like “shit Midas.”
Re:Cooler Screens
by marcosdumay on Tuesday October 24, 2023 @09:37AM
(#37999014)
And yet, people feel the need to take ads, that can be almost perfectly described as having the Midas touch, and feel the need to invent those lame phrases.
Every time I'm in a new store (and occasionally I'll repeat it) I'll tell managers that "as a customer, I'm complaining about those doors, and I'm not going to waste time opening all the doors to find what I want, I'll just go to another store." Now I realize they themselves don't care, but by saying "as a customer" I'm trying to help them truthfully say "customers are complaining and we're losing sales." Can't wait for them to be gone.
It was unsettling to see a notice in a CVS that by looking at their sodas on said screen I was consenting to having my facial details processed.
At first I thought this is like a clear oled panel on the door, but it’s just a huge, opaque when off, LCD screen? And they use cameras to show you what clear glass would have shown you otherwise?
I've never seen them displaying ads, just big graphics saying "WATER" or "ICE CREAM" or "MILK" or whatever when there's nobody in front of them. And I find it kind of fascinating how, when they do notice someone's in front of them and deign to switch to showing the inventory, my brain just completely slides off of the crisp pictures of the drinks on a bright white background. Even before the first time I opened one up to find that it was inaccurate, it felt like my brain just knew that the inventory would not necessarily match what would actually be in there, so why bother wasting energy parsing it?
(And this is with them all working, largely as designed.)
I am glad to know they are on the way out. "'Vegas' in a derogatory way" is a good summation of my reaction to them.