How to fix Big Tech and Social Media

[Savonarola]

I actually kind of hope they go for MEGACORP or something.

MetaCorp – run by MetaZuck who desires to rule THE METAVERSE!  Only a dedicated group of metallurgists and metaphysical poets (a holdout from The Protectorate) dare to defy MetaZuck.  With the power of metameterials and hyperlinear poems (which some may term "Meta-verse") they've hindered him.  In order to triumph MetaZuck realizes that he must become THE METAVERSE!  (This is a terrible fate as MetaZuck must always sit still and so must subsist solely on a diet of Metamucil).  While MetaZuck has been able to program THE METAVERSE! so that it doesn't explode when exposed to paradoxes; alas he failed to consider metaphor or metaphysical wit.

Exciting climactic scene:

The chair MetaZuck sat upon ; like an iron throne, glittered in the pale blue light of a thousand monitors that filled the cavernous chamber.  Minions, clad head to toe in black, stood as statues in front of the black as mourning doors.  From the base of MetaZuck's skull and his arms in legs ran wires and cables ran in profusion across the slate floor behind the rows of monitors.  In the dim light only MetaZuck's eyes showed; those eyes, those terrible eyes, those lidless yellow eyes which seemed to know every secret, every thought.

"Bring him" he sneered, his voice filled with cold command.

His minnions left and swiftly returned bearing the body of a man in colorful clothes.

He looked upon the limp body for a moment and chuckled.  "Wake him."

Another minion brought out a bucket of water and doused the man.

"At my back I always hear," he muttered as he shook his head and slowly sat up.

"So this is the great Marvell," said MetaZuck.

"Illustrious is the term I prefer," replied Marvell.

"Illustrious or otherwise you have failed.  My minions have terminated Donne and Herbert, only you remain."

"What about Crashaw?"

"Who?"

"Never mind."

"You shall bear witness to my triumph.  All knowledge is mine.  I know all ; your deepest, darkest secrets are all mine.  Your secret support of the monarchy, your flirtation with Catholicism, I know it all."

"So now you reign as lord of THE METAVERSE!"

"I am more than lord.  I do not rule THE METAVERSE! I am THE METAVERSE!"

"But you are doomed to sit there through deserts of vast eternity."

"There's no need to walk in THE METAVERSE!"

"Then you shall have naught but quaint memories of vegetable love, a smile, the stroke of the fur of a cat."

"Very funny, I am no Blofeld and I do not have a cat."

"The cat is a metaphor."

"ERROR" said MetaZuck, mechanically "CANNOT PROCESS, A cat is a cat."

"Not necessarily, not always, just as you are a metaphoric king for you rule a land of barren hillocks and sterile orchids where the hum of amorous birds is never heard."

"ERROR" repeated MetaZuck, "CANNOT PROCESS."

"What need is there to process in your parched land where shoots and stalks hang limp in the breeze never to bloom?"

"ERROR," MetaZuck said, "ERROR, ERROR" his eyes flickered and then shut off, lifeless, cold and dead.  One by one the monitors shut off.  In the distance there was an explosion, and then another.

"It looks like he didn't have but world enough and time," said Marvell.  The minions stared and then alarms started to sound.  They looked at each other and turned to run.

[The Minsky Moment]

The only applicable metaphysical poetry I know is from early 80s pop

I'm coding all the things that I know you'll like
Making good programming
I gotta handle it just right
You know what I mean
I took you to an intimate Starbucks
Then to a suggestive VR meet
There's nothing left to develop
Unless it's binarily

Let's get metaphysical, metaphysical
I wanna get metaphysical
Let's get into metaphysical
Let me hear your ousia talk, your ousia talk
Let me hear your ousia talk
Let's get metaphysical, metaphysical
I wanna get metaphysical
Let's get into metaphysical
Let me hear your ousia talk, your ousia talk
Let me hear your ousia talk

[Josquius]

It's hard to think of a company I trust less than Facebook to do this.

[Josquius]

Quelle surprise here.
Though somewhat amusing to me as in recent months I have been seeing far right folk referring to "the twitter crowd" and taking it as read that this obviously means the left.

BBC News - Twitter's algorithm favours right-leaning politics, research finds
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59011271

[Sheilbh]

Quelle surprise here.
Though somewhat amusing to me as in recent months I have been seeing far right folk referring to "the twitter crowd" and taking it as read that this obviously means the left.

BBC News - Twitter's algorithm favours right-leaning politics, research finds
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59011271

There's other research that about 70% of Twitter users identify as on the centre or extreme left - I think especially among frequent tweeters.

I don't know about amplifying tweets and I don't use "Home" view because I hate it But in terms of users I think Twitter is definitely left while Facebook is far more right - which might just reflect the user base Twitter is younger, more educated with, in my experience, a lot more media/arts/journalist people.

[Barrister]

Quelle surprise here.
Though somewhat amusing to me as in recent months I have been seeing far right folk referring to "the twitter crowd" and taking it as read that this obviously means the left.

BBC News - Twitter's algorithm favours right-leaning politics, research finds
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59011271

There's other research that about 70% of Twitter users identify as on the centre or extreme left - I think especially among frequent tweeters.

I don't know about amplifying tweets and I don't use "Home" view because I hate it But in terms of users I think Twitter is definitely left while Facebook is far more right - which might just reflect the user base Twitter is younger, more educated with, in my experience, a lot more media/arts/journalist people.

Twitter is also much, much smaller.

Twitter has 200 million daily active users.  That's pretty good.  But Facebook has 1.9 billion daily active users.

[Sheilbh]

From tech reporter, Mark Di Stefano:

Mark Di Stefano
@MarkDiStef
On Monday, more than a dozen news organisations including AP, CNN, USA Today and Fox (!) are planning to drop stories on Facebook's head. They've been coordinating on the whistleblower's documents through a private Slack group. Story with @SylviaVarnham

[Jacob]

Here's hoping it's something good!

[Sheilbh]

Nick Clegg doing a sterling job yet again

[Josquius]

A guy I know has just made a lot of money, I suspect several thousand, from the pump and dump of stocks in trumps social media thingy.
Nice to see the trumpy wealth being milked my normal people a bit.
Just wish I'd been paying attention

[Admiral Yi]

A guy I know has just made a lot of money, I suspect several thousand, from the pump and dump of stocks in trumps social media thingy.
Nice to see the trumpy wealth being milked my normal people a bit.
Just wish I'd been paying attention

So it's commendable to defraud Trump supporters. 

[Zoupa]

Not sure commendable is the right word. Funny maybe?

[Eddie Teach]

What happened?

[Tamas]

I can't help being a bit sour seeing governments and "traditional" media being in such agreement over curbing and censoring social media. It might be necessary, but it's quite clear why these actors are eager to do it.

[Habbaku]

What happened?

A Trump-aligned social media platform just merged with a SPAC and went public via the back door. The stock (DWAC) shot up from ~$10 to ~$130, then slumped down to ~$90, all in the course of about three days.

Not exactly a traditional pump and dump, but there's plenty of reason for skepticism. This ain't the pink sheets, though.