It happened to you; I know it did. You talked (over the phone, at home, at work) with a friend about your latest idea to take up diving / baking / Chinese... and all of a sudden, you were inundated with commercials selling you on diving / baking / Chinese... stuff. The obvious conclusion was that you are being eavesdropped on. The devices around you, with your phone being the prime suspect, are listening to every word you whisper over your latte in your favorite coffee place in Tel Aviv or Soho, NY. Outrages, isn't it?
So here is the thing. You are NOT being eavesdropped, but this is not good news. Quite the contrary. It is not that they need to eavesdrop to know what's on your mind (and push advertising). It is actually the other way around. Someone paid someone more money than a third someone to put diving / baking / Chinese on your mind. It wasn't really your idea to begin with, so the thought that they need to eavesdrop to know what is on your mind is ridiculous. Someone paid for it to be put there; you whispered the news to a friend over coffee and were startled to see the flow of advertising coming your way... If someone else had paid more, you would be whispering something about learning Chinese rather than scuba diving, and your feed would adjust accordingly.
Your will that you hold in such high regard and that controls your wallet and political vote has been confiscated. Obscure entities are bidding on your future actions. When you accept the truism that when you are given something for free, you are the merchandise, this is what it comes down to. And you are worried that someone is eavesdropping on you... get real; they put these thoughts there, so what is the point of listening to them? Even this pathetic concern of being eavesdropped on is still there just because no one is interested in spending money to take it out. It's that sad.
True, marketing was always about a call to action in its very nature. But... today, on the other side of that phone you are holding in the palm of your hand, there is big data and wicked smart AI that keeps learning and studying your inner workings. That apparatus has no conscience and is mercenary at its core. If you ever envisioned computers taking over humanity as robots with blinking led lights and a lens-like eye in the middle of the forehead, then think again. We are all caught in the matrix, and the only thing we can do to extract ourselves is to break away from our phones. Ok... so much for that. But please drop the nonsense of being eavesdropped on. I wish they were. No need...
Comments