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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327536280_The_Attention_Economy_Markets_of_Attention_Misinformation_and_Manipulation>
"According to legend, Abraham Lincoln was willing to walk several miles in
order to borrow a book while growing up in Indiana during the early nineteenth
century. “My best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read,” young
Lincoln is reported to have said. Literature was scarce, difficult to access,
and precious. Not only literature but information in general was hard to come
by. Whether news from afar, new knowledge and insight, or simple entertainment,
it usually took effort and came at considerable expense to get hold of
information."
Via Muse, who wrote:
I was asked to teach teachers how to teach their students on how to become
part of the information economy. So many of these students were studying
education just because the classes were free and it looked like an area
where they would be guaranteed a job. They were also being pushed to be
YouTube performers as part of their teaching tasks (even though they
wouldn’t be paid for the time they put into this).
Many of the people who are participating in the information economy on
YouTube are there for fame, fortune, or both. Attention creates status.
Attention and status can be monetised. A major problem here is that
narcissists and people in need of a living are put into a position where
they will say anything to get your attention. Truth might sell. But
beautiful lies, entertaining lies, feel-good lies, fear-confirming lies have
a way of sucking people in and getting spread by word of mouth. We end up
living in a miasm of distortions.
We are all being taught that we need to be the centre of attention. We all
feel the pressure to put together plausible stories on the spot to show that
we are knowledgeable and entertaining. But these plausible stories erode
trust. They are also a danger to democracy.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
