6 ms·

Form of manipulation? Check. Sowing seeds of doubt? Check. Targeted individual? Check. Make them question their own perception? Check. I’m pretty okay with the

Form of manipulation? Check. Sowing seeds of doubt? Check. Targeted individual? Check. Make them question their own perception? Check. I’m pretty okay with their use of the word by your own definition.

homonculus1 7y ago
What? This is just targeted suggestion/propaganda. There is nothing here to degrade the target's self-worth or make them question their own perception.
- hsk823 7y ago
  You underestimate how powerful suggestion / propaganda is. If you keep getting told you're a worthless person, eventually you'll absorb it into your own psyche.
- JackRabbitSlim 7y ago
  That is a matter of content not technique; "New research suggests people that use internet handles starting with Homo have tiny penises and poor reasoning skills" - See? Targetted propaganda that denigrates...
  - homonculus1 7y ago
    Then any media service which lets a user deliver a message enables gaslighting. HN is a gaslighting service because it allowed you to deliver denigrating content to me. No, gaslighting is systematically disorienting a person by staging confusing events, and blaming that confusion on the target themself. A one-way pipeline of targeted ads is not gaslighting, unless you call your wife crazy when she complains about all these weird ads she's seeing. But that's not what this service is automating.
gdy 7y ago
You are targeting the author of the parent comment and making them question their perception of the meaning of 'gaslighting'.
paulddraper 7y ago
Yes, though gaslighting is a subset of the possible uses for this tool. In the opposite direction, you could choose to reinforce current ideas. Which, due to confirmation bias, would probably be easier than gaslighting.
- klipt 7y ago
  From a utilitarian moral perspective, quite a few of the messages they present are actually good ones: quit smoking, drive carefully. Even the one about women initiating sex helps fight against sexist gender roles that women have to wait for the man to initiate everything. But those are also things people may be comfortable just asking up front. Of course other messages like "quit your job" for a coworker just seem spiteful and mean spirited.

homonculus1 7y ago

What? This is just targeted suggestion/propaganda. There is nothing here to degrade the target's self-worth or make them question their own perception.

hsk823 7y ago
You underestimate how powerful suggestion / propaganda is. If you keep getting told you're a worthless person, eventually you'll absorb it into your own psyche.
JackRabbitSlim 7y ago
That is a matter of content not technique; "New research suggests people that use internet handles starting with Homo have tiny penises and poor reasoning skills" - See? Targetted propaganda that denigrates...
- homonculus1 7y ago
  Then any media service which lets a user deliver a message enables gaslighting. HN is a gaslighting service because it allowed you to deliver denigrating content to me. No, gaslighting is systematically disorienting a person by staging confusing events, and blaming that confusion on the target themself. A one-way pipeline of targeted ads is not gaslighting, unless you call your wife crazy when she complains about all these weird ads she's seeing. But that's not what this service is automating.

gdy 7y ago

You are targeting the author of the parent comment and making them question their perception of the meaning of 'gaslighting'.

paulddraper 7y ago

Yes, though gaslighting is a subset of the possible uses for this tool. In the opposite direction, you could choose to reinforce current ideas. Which, due to confirmation bias, would probably be easier than gaslighting.

klipt 7y ago
From a utilitarian moral perspective, quite a few of the messages they present are actually good ones: quit smoking, drive carefully. Even the one about women initiating sex helps fight against sexist gender roles that women have to wait for the man to initiate everything. But those are also things people may be comfortable just asking up front. Of course other messages like "quit your job" for a coworker just seem spiteful and mean spirited.