It probably happens everywhere any company views as profitable to their cause. We're quickly approaching the scenario hinted at by Neil Stephenson in the book "Anathem", where information has to be filtered by paid-for services screening out fake comments. It's just an off-hand remark made in the book, I don't know of a book devoted to the topic, but it's becoming reality. You can't know if anyone you talk to is actually in earnest, which is why I predict interpersonal conversation is going to make a big comeback. Why bother wasting your time trying to have a conversation on a forum if you can't be certain you're talking to a real person whose real opinions can be changed?
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Fact_Checking_Alien ago
It probably happens everywhere any company views as profitable to their cause. We're quickly approaching the scenario hinted at by Neil Stephenson in the book "Anathem", where information has to be filtered by paid-for services screening out fake comments. It's just an off-hand remark made in the book, I don't know of a book devoted to the topic, but it's becoming reality. You can't know if anyone you talk to is actually in earnest, which is why I predict interpersonal conversation is going to make a big comeback. Why bother wasting your time trying to have a conversation on a forum if you can't be certain you're talking to a real person whose real opinions can be changed?