With the recent developments in AI technology, we are entering a new era of manipulation through captology. Mainstream websites/apps are well known to utilize captology to manipulate its users. But now captology is AI driven and will reach a new dimension of manipulation. In the very near future, every mainstream OS will be AI infested. This means, manipulation will start as soon you turn on your PC/smartphone.

The internet and computing in general is no longer a harmless activity. Now it is objectively a great danger for the users mental self-determination to use mainstream websites/OS/software. Because I honestly don’t believe, that anyone can outsmart AI driven Captology. People who claim this, probably also believe they can consume heroin without becoming addicted.

This is why I believe, that now is the last chance to escape from this pernicious trend. This means, now is the time to fundamentally rethink and reorganize our habits of using the internet and computer technology.

I don’t claim to know the perfect way out, but I can only share what I am doing. I believe that some kind of off grid computing is the solution.

-My tech: Laptop with Linux Mint, Nokia Dumbphone, FM tuner -No home internet connection. I only use public wifi. (Psychological reason, to keep me from mindless surfing)

A few years ago, I would have called someone with this lifestyle an insane luddite. But today, I prefer to be an insane luddite, than to be a dopamine addicted consoomer who is being controlled by AI driven captology.

  • @Crul@lemm.ee
    27•11 months ago

    For those out of the loop, like me, from Wikipedia:

    Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technologies.[1] This area of inquiry explores the overlapping space between persuasion in general (influence, motivation, behavior change, etc.) and computing technology.[2] This includes the design, research, and program analysis of interactive computing products (such as the Web, desktop software, specialized devices, etc.) created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviors.[3]

    B. J. Fogg in 1996 derived the term captology from an acronym: Computers As Persuasive Technologies. In 2003, he published the first book on captology, entitled Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do.[4]

    Captology is not the same thing as Behavior Design, according to BJ Fogg who is the person who coined both terms and created the foundation for both areas.