A raving fascist or communist is more predictable and will lap up raving content. The machines can change our mind about our objective function so we are easier to satisfy.
That’s a good way to put it!
This might be stretching the analogy, but I feel like there’s a similar thing going on with technological evolution of “gadgets” (digital watch, iPod, cell phone). It feels like people’s expectations of what a gadget should be able to do for them to make them content continue to grow at a rate so fast that something as simple and obviously beneficial as “battery life” never really receives an improvement. I get that not everyone is bothered by having to charge things all the time (and losing the charger all the time), but how come it’s borderline impossible to buy things that don’t need to be charged so often? It feels like there’s some optimization pressure at work here, and it’s not making life more convenient. :)
That’s a good way to put it!
This might be stretching the analogy, but I feel like there’s a similar thing going on with technological evolution of “gadgets” (digital watch, iPod, cell phone). It feels like people’s expectations of what a gadget should be able to do for them to make them content continue to grow at a rate so fast that something as simple and obviously beneficial as “battery life” never really receives an improvement. I get that not everyone is bothered by having to charge things all the time (and losing the charger all the time), but how come it’s borderline impossible to buy things that don’t need to be charged so often? It feels like there’s some optimization pressure at work here, and it’s not making life more convenient. :)