• FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Yeah, those are also harmful technologies that harmed societies more or less depending on the historical and geopolitical context.

    Right now, the algorithm is more harmful than those because everyone is addicted to them. The sheer amount of time waste and collective brainpower that is being degraded or never even being developed is staggering and will stunt our society for decades to come.

    Even fentanyl, while incurring a much more dramatic and tragic cost on individuals, has a fraction of the impact on society that the algorithm will have due to the scale of our collective addiction.

    It’s like how wage theft has a relatively low impact on individuals but combined represents significantly more money stolen than all other crime nationwide.

    The effects are spread out over many individual people, but it has an overall dampening effect on the growth and development of communities.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Right now, the algorithm is more harmful than those because everyone is addicted to them.

      Again, I don’t think you’re acknowledging the difference between chemical addiction and social habit.

      If you spend a week without cell phone reception, you don’t die from withdrawal symptoms.

      • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        The distinction is not really worth considering except in the context of managing withdrawal symptoms during recovery. Any substance/behavior addiction can be devastating, and trying to say that someone’s addiction is less valid than someone else’s just prevents them from seeking help.

      • Hakuso@scribe.disroot.org
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        1 day ago

        People have commuted suicide, though.

        Just because it’s not a physical addiction does not men it can’t be as extreme, and generally a physical addiction will end up with nausea, exhaustion, and mood swings rather than death. It takes deep or long-term addiction to be fatal.