I'm restarting this thread on plug-talk, since it is about social concerns, not using linux per se.
Some random chatter related to "free" big data services. "Freedom isn't free" "If you get something for free, you are the product" ... etc ... We are barrelling towards a future where we let opaque "AI" code make choices for us ... and the choices offered seem to be getting worse for thoughtcriminal freethinkers like me ... and most of you. One of my biggest problems is "search". Which Google used to be pretty good for; now I get scattershot drivel rather than answers to the questions I ask. Duckduckgo is the same drivel sent to everyone - I guess that's anonymity. For example, "where can I buy repair parts for product X" tells me where to buy new product X ... or Y, or Z. Repair parts companies and small repair businesses aren't in the search results, even if those are what I am asking for. It used to be that companies paid for top placement in results, and were identified as such - now ALL the results seem to be push advertising of some sort. So ... imagine a "mechanical turk" approach - you submit a request, the request propagates through a network of humans who know humans who know humans, and the path that succeeds is rewarded, while the path that defrauds is punished. Somehow. Perhaps brownie points convertable to informal professional services. You give me good advice, or help me find it elsewhere, and I weed somebody else's garden. The benefits eventually bounce back to you as a service that you want. The kind of transaction we used to use money for, before money became something that governments print to buy weapons. My principle goal for using these networks is to give the underemployed something productive and prideful to do. An unemployed steel worker probably knows lots of things that would help me. And somebody I can help can help the steel worker. Better than wasting time on twitter and TV. Random thoughts that might inspire a focused and practical solution, and programmers to cobble up a beta prototype. Keith -- Keith Lofstrom [email protected] _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
