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Goodbye Google

263 points · 327 comments · Murmuring9087

  1. BLKNSLVR · · focus · HN ↗
    The more people leaving 'because AI' just makes me sad that there have been so few leaving 'because advertising'.
    1. jader201 · · focus · HN ↗
      While I get the spirit of your message, advertising has been around for over a century, and I don’t believe it has done near the damage to society over that timespan that AI will likely do in a decade (if we’re not careful and responsible).

      I also don’t believe addiction and other psychological exploits are used for the sole purpose of ad revenue. There are other more direct forms of monetization involved, such as microtransactions and subscriptions.

      If you really want to blame something, it really all comes down to one word:

      Greed.

      1. tjah1087 · · focus · HN ↗
        > I also don’t believe addiction and other psychological exploits are used for the sole purpose of ad revenue

        Instagram? Tiktok? Facebook?

        Social media feeds off addiction to generate ad revenue.

        And how much damage has social media done to political and social institutions and to collective mental health?

        Ads on other web properties are not weaponised in the same way.

        1. socalgal2 · · focus · HN ↗
          Social media feeds off addiction to popularity, a human thing. Remove the ads and it will not stop.
          1. rcMgD2BwE72F · · focus · HN ↗
            It won't stop but it will slow down to a crawl.

            Eating too much fruits has never been healthy, but gorging oneself on raw sugar is worse. Perfect is the enemy of the good.

            1. socalgal2 · · focus · HN ↗
              It will not slow to a crawl because popularity = power. Even if the the platforms themselves stop ads, the users will not, either for other or for themselves.
              1. stonogo · · focus · HN ↗
                Ads are what allow these products to exist. Take away ads, and the platform cannot sustain its own server requirements. People won't pay for stuff like this; it's only mainstream because it's ad-supported.
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