The Creepy Line- Log 10

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Last night I watched part of a documentary called The Creepy Line on Amazon Prime Video.  It is about the internet and data mining focusing mostly on Google and Facebook, the two main corporations that rule the internet.  The old CEO of Google once said that Google was not going to cross the "creepy line."  This is interesting in a few ways.  The documentary brings up the point that an ethical person who does not want to mess with people's data would say that they are going to stay very far away from the creepy line so nothing they are doing would be confused with being creepy or crossing the line.  Instead, the CEO said that they were going to go up to the creepy line but not cross it.  This is a little to close for my comfort.  Also, the fact that he used the word "creepy" and not "dangerous" or "unethical."  Creepy adds another dimension to the world of Google.  You can be unethical but not be creepy which make me wary.  Every single part of Google is just to get information to be able to make money.  Google does not have any competition which makes this even scarier.  Even right now, while writing this, and while you are reading this, Google is collecting this information.  Maybe I will be getting ads soon about how to protect my information because I am writing about my information being at risk.
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I know the mindset on data mining by Google and Facebook for a lot of people is not aggressive.  Most people think "it's going to happen anyway and I can't do anything about it so may as well just continue on with my life."  Sometimes I have this mindset and I know a lot of my friends do but after watching this documentary something changed.  One fact the documentary threw out is that Google controls most 90% of the searches in the world. Not only does Google and Facebook have your information, but they can control you without you even knowing it.  
Google is like a giant subconscious mind that makes decisions that users of Google don't even know about.  When someone searches something on Google, it filters the information they see by only putting up certain sites, steers their opinions by putting certain websites at the top of the search results, and ends up giving biased information because of these two things.  This was introduced in the documentary as SENE which stands for Search Engine Manipulation Effect.  It includes the List effect as well.
Image result for creepy line documentarySENE has an effect on cognitive function and is supported by "a daily regimen of operative conditions."  The List effect, which is part of SENE is that people believe that what is at the top of the list is better.  What is the first to show up as search results is better and more correct is the mindest people have.  This is manipulation that no one can see which is really scary.  Less than 5% of people go past the first page of results.  Google can easily change how we see things by using the list effect.  Since answers to questions like "how many inches are in a foot?" or "what is the capital of California?" often show up in a box at the top of the page, when we search more in-depth questions, things that we may be more unsure about, we don't go down the search results, we rely on the ones that are right there at the top.  The best, in our mind, is at the top, but the problem with that is that the information at the top is also just what Google wants us to see.  This is extremely scary to me because of the huge effect it can have.  When we look up things like information about candidates for elections it is almost certain that Google is going to change how we look at them because of this list effect.  
Negativity bias is also a form of manipulation that Google uses. The search suggestions that Google provides are really persuasive.  If all of them are positive, then we will start to see whatever we are looking up as positive.  If just one negative appears, it draws 10-15 more clicks than neutral suggestions.  Search suggestions could completely change people's perspectives.  This is a super simple but really powerful way to manipulate people.
Image result for facebookJust like Google can change our perspectives in a creepy, manipulative way through SENE, Facebook can weaponize information to change emotions.  This is another level of unethical actions.  Emotions are extremely delicate, personal parts of a person that should not be messed with, but that is exactly what Facebook is doing.  By mining our data, Facebook knows exactly what will affect our emotions.  We are in a bubble of our own emotions and perspectives.  Facebook is a company that needs to make money.  If no one used Facebook, they would not have the product, which is you.  You are the product.  You give the information to Facebook that they then use to sell.  To keep people using Facebook they keep people's feeds full of things that will keep them on it.  This creates a bubble of ourselves that we are trapped in on every part of the internet.
The worst part is that this information about you is on the internet forever, it will 
never, ever go away.

The Creepy Line documentary:  https://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Line-Jordan-B-Peterson/dp/B07J261ZFM?keywords=the+creepy+line&qid=1547420092&sr=8-1&ref=sr_1_1



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