The point about serving the audience (Netflix lady) around the 20-minute mark in the podcast is central to the astroturf issue for sure.
There's SO MUCH to be said about how this pervades "corporate culture" and in effect builds the mean-girl algorithmic longhouse of passive-aggressive cryptic popularity contests (that has characterized the past twenty years, until Trump 2.0 baby!)
Having worked on both marketing (sales) and product (engineering) teams, I've always despised the "user research" analytics-obsessed "just optimize" ethos – it's at best a scrambling for making the most of diminishing returns (as it can never "jump the curve" by risking innovation) and on a personal level (if one submits to the digital longhouse) it basically ends up as that meme goes: "Artists in the 20th century did 80% drugs-sex-rocknroll and 20% art. Artists in the 21st century do 80% social media and 20% art." Lol... It's true – nobody even rocks out anymore! And that ironic clip from Silicon Valley comes to mind, "This guy F*CKS!" lol... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRtwpJQIiak
For those about to rock, WE SALUTE YOU!
Let's retrieve the Steve Jobs quasi-megalomaniacal attitude of... Screw the marketing team (e.g. his historic clip about why Xerox sucks), stop asking the user what they didn't like in retrospect. And instead let's make a "dent in the universe" with something new!
When all you do is astroturf, you're at best settling on a plateau (of diminishing returns) but in reality nothing is that stable and it seals one's doom (as a company, or nation, or "personal brand").
Seriously, watch that Steve Jobs clip – it dovetails with this podcast so clutch!
I love playing sports. Healthy social competition. I don’t like American pro sportsball, which is bread and circuses consoomerism pushed by social justice infested leagues and corporations.
I disagree. I'm willing to deal with the BS to see elite competition from our strongest and most gifted humans. The dedication, sacrifice, thrills and agonies are well worth the occasional slogan or Kaepernick.
Also, after a long week of being a responsible dad, husband, and business owner there is no better release than having a few beers and screaming at the TV with family and friends. I get there is way too much low class behavior around pro sports (and it's what they encourage), but the core value is still there.
Drunken fights in the stands and "End Racism" helmets don't define pro sports.
The last time I watched the Super Bowl (while living in Boston) was when the Seahawks won in 2014 – that was a hoot. Everyone in the bar was pissed.
I'm the wrong person to weigh into this but the shameless wokery of the NFL turned me off years ago. I played varsity soccer in high school and love playing tennis still, but watching sports is so damn boring; I'd rather do almost anything.
We need to stop being consumers of things that are meant to be played: this is true for sports, music, and sex. Time for America to get off the game couch, stop streaming playlists, and stop porning. There—I escalated the thread.
And I actually think this might be a good silver lining of AI which could effectively sideline human producers (as the bots, both software and hardware will be better performers) such that people will have to wrestle with the underlying *meaning* of these "hobbies". What is the meaning of "sport" what is "music" for, etc. No matter how rusty, we're going to have to pick up the old axe and shred some tunes.
Consumption is bygone (20th century decadence), production will be for bots (21st century dystopia), but thinking (and playing) is for us humans henceforth.
"Sounds like a Kamala Harris commercial" LOL! I can see it, yes totally.
Maybe "astroturf" simply describes "fake estating" which is to say: claiming domain over something that is fake, with a synthetic veneer (essentially a rug, to sweep externalities under). The more dirt to sweep under, the bigger the Astroturf Phonyshire seat of Baron Bullshit.
If the "lawn" began as a statement of power and prestige in landed gentry estates (or earlier, in baroque France and even renaissance Italy before that), then the "astro turf" could be understood as a postmodern literally-fake version of "estating" oneself – pretending to be a lord, predicated on perception management one-inch deep but as far as the designed vantage permits.
And yeah, I used to pencil my calendar as kid because so many rad movies were on the horizon then (in late-90s and early-00s). Couldn't care less about movies now (and basically since 2010).
Lastly, I'm not a theater-kid, but I think I'm theater-kid-continguous HAHA! But thankfully there are based thespians and hopefully they can help us usher in a new Golden Age of American drama and play.
The point about serving the audience (Netflix lady) around the 20-minute mark in the podcast is central to the astroturf issue for sure.
There's SO MUCH to be said about how this pervades "corporate culture" and in effect builds the mean-girl algorithmic longhouse of passive-aggressive cryptic popularity contests (that has characterized the past twenty years, until Trump 2.0 baby!)
Having worked on both marketing (sales) and product (engineering) teams, I've always despised the "user research" analytics-obsessed "just optimize" ethos – it's at best a scrambling for making the most of diminishing returns (as it can never "jump the curve" by risking innovation) and on a personal level (if one submits to the digital longhouse) it basically ends up as that meme goes: "Artists in the 20th century did 80% drugs-sex-rocknroll and 20% art. Artists in the 21st century do 80% social media and 20% art." Lol... It's true – nobody even rocks out anymore! And that ironic clip from Silicon Valley comes to mind, "This guy F*CKS!" lol... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRtwpJQIiak
For those about to rock, WE SALUTE YOU!
Let's retrieve the Steve Jobs quasi-megalomaniacal attitude of... Screw the marketing team (e.g. his historic clip about why Xerox sucks), stop asking the user what they didn't like in retrospect. And instead let's make a "dent in the universe" with something new!
Here's that rad clip about Xerox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlBjNmXvqIM
When all you do is astroturf, you're at best settling on a plateau (of diminishing returns) but in reality nothing is that stable and it seals one's doom (as a company, or nation, or "personal brand").
Seriously, watch that Steve Jobs clip – it dovetails with this podcast so clutch!
I hate corporate and celebrity BS around sports as much as the next guy, but why so much hate for sports?
I love playing sports. Healthy social competition. I don’t like American pro sportsball, which is bread and circuses consoomerism pushed by social justice infested leagues and corporations.
I disagree. I'm willing to deal with the BS to see elite competition from our strongest and most gifted humans. The dedication, sacrifice, thrills and agonies are well worth the occasional slogan or Kaepernick.
Also, after a long week of being a responsible dad, husband, and business owner there is no better release than having a few beers and screaming at the TV with family and friends. I get there is way too much low class behavior around pro sports (and it's what they encourage), but the core value is still there.
Drunken fights in the stands and "End Racism" helmets don't define pro sports.
The last time I watched the Super Bowl (while living in Boston) was when the Seahawks won in 2014 – that was a hoot. Everyone in the bar was pissed.
I'm the wrong person to weigh into this but the shameless wokery of the NFL turned me off years ago. I played varsity soccer in high school and love playing tennis still, but watching sports is so damn boring; I'd rather do almost anything.
We need to stop being consumers of things that are meant to be played: this is true for sports, music, and sex. Time for America to get off the game couch, stop streaming playlists, and stop porning. There—I escalated the thread.
And I actually think this might be a good silver lining of AI which could effectively sideline human producers (as the bots, both software and hardware will be better performers) such that people will have to wrestle with the underlying *meaning* of these "hobbies". What is the meaning of "sport" what is "music" for, etc. No matter how rusty, we're going to have to pick up the old axe and shred some tunes.
Consumption is bygone (20th century decadence), production will be for bots (21st century dystopia), but thinking (and playing) is for us humans henceforth.
"Sounds like a Kamala Harris commercial" LOL! I can see it, yes totally.
Maybe "astroturf" simply describes "fake estating" which is to say: claiming domain over something that is fake, with a synthetic veneer (essentially a rug, to sweep externalities under). The more dirt to sweep under, the bigger the Astroturf Phonyshire seat of Baron Bullshit.
If the "lawn" began as a statement of power and prestige in landed gentry estates (or earlier, in baroque France and even renaissance Italy before that), then the "astro turf" could be understood as a postmodern literally-fake version of "estating" oneself – pretending to be a lord, predicated on perception management one-inch deep but as far as the designed vantage permits.
And yeah, I used to pencil my calendar as kid because so many rad movies were on the horizon then (in late-90s and early-00s). Couldn't care less about movies now (and basically since 2010).
Lastly, I'm not a theater-kid, but I think I'm theater-kid-continguous HAHA! But thankfully there are based thespians and hopefully they can help us usher in a new Golden Age of American drama and play.
Dang I learnt a lot from this conversation!