The Cookie Conspiracy

One of the principle definitions of privacy is... the right to be left alone - to keep your own thoughts, aspirations, and dreams to yourself. Free to become the person you want to be. To chart your own course. To have your thoughts roam free as they may.

Increasingly, governments, corporations, and internet infrastructure providers see advantage in perfecting and exercising their ability to manipulate sentiments, action, and thought. We can finally answer very clearly the questions Solzhenitsyn brought to mind with his thread analogy, uncover the attraction of conspiracy, and see clearly what ties together privacy, influence, and personhood.

Battle for hearts and minds has been going on a very long time... since Adam bit the apple, since apes stood on 2 legs... Dishearten and divide. Now the internet has opened great opportunities for warfare propagandists to affect majority populations at near total saturation. What was once a slow process of seeding ideas - and encouraging their propagation across demographics - is now done instantly, flexibly. The ability to pivot on a dime - according to opportunities presented by chaos - makes it hard to keep things straight. This allows for the cumulative Nudging and Sludging to have near instant effect. No wonder conspiracy theories are so appealing. Something has to be simpler than all this (apparent) chaos.

All this stuff on the internet is free?

You have noticed (maybe) the option to 'Accept All' cookies is becoming a thoughtless click, dispense with a popup that is in your way as quickly as possible. Why is that popup even there? By clicking just to get it over with, you are trained to accept the shenanigans of companies who are 'helping your shopping,' for your 'convenience.'

Hard won law and regulation requires sites to allow you to opt-out of tracking cookies. This requirement was instituted by internet experts who impressed judges with the quality and importance of their position and arguments. There is a good reason for their efforts on your behalf. Now, by not opting-out of advertising cookies you are agreeing to be tracked.

By not caring for your privacy, you are opening the front door of your mind, to greedy agents - the highest bidders in a market that buys and sells hearts and minds. You now know the scope and intensity of the tactics targeting you, your political party, your country... your world. Do you really agree to be manipulated by psychological techniques and artificial intelligence you only vaguely understand? What side are you on, are you even on your own side?

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