Agreed, this seems a critical flaw in the post’s argument.
Ads are not always zero-sum or negative-sum games.
Intuitive example: I see an ad for a new shoe I was unaware of. It sounds interesting to me and I buy it. I like it and my life is better for having this better shoe. As a result, the world is better off: I got a better shoe that I value more than the old shoe I was wearing, holding constant that I was going to pay money for shoes and am choosing between similarly priced options.
This even holds for things I already knew about but didn’t reconsider.
Intuitive example: For historical reasons I believe car X to be poor quality. I see an ad extolling the recent changes in car X to be higher quality. I do some further research and learn car X is in fact better than it used to be. So I learned something new thanks to the ad and can now make better decisions.
Ads are a way of paying to prioritize information.
Agreed, this seems a critical flaw in the post’s argument.
Ads are not always zero-sum or negative-sum games.
Intuitive example: I see an ad for a new shoe I was unaware of. It sounds interesting to me and I buy it. I like it and my life is better for having this better shoe. As a result, the world is better off: I got a better shoe that I value more than the old shoe I was wearing, holding constant that I was going to pay money for shoes and am choosing between similarly priced options.
This even holds for things I already knew about but didn’t reconsider.
Intuitive example: For historical reasons I believe car X to be poor quality. I see an ad extolling the recent changes in car X to be higher quality. I do some further research and learn car X is in fact better than it used to be. So I learned something new thanks to the ad and can now make better decisions.
Ads are a way of paying to prioritize information.