I think you are wrong in saying that no one claims benefits from it: claiming benefits is practically all the linked article does. (BTW, your link goes to page two of the article. You may want to fix that. [Edit: Fixed.])
The article gave one viewpoint (and left out the other), and so everyone else is trying to give the counterpoint. (Not that I’m saying it’s wrong for the article to only give one side: maybe debates work better for transmitting information than balanced pieces. But it certainly is the correct response to try to steelman the other viewpoint when you see an article in favour of one side.)
I don’t think that’s what they were doing. The commenters (the NY Times commenters, btw, not the Ycombinator commenters) seem to genuinely believe that it is only bad and no good.
“It might be the time to download “1984” from your Scribd or Oyster subscription service. I’m sure they have it.”
“Surrendering your thoughts: A Haiku
Creepy. Nasty. Yuk.
A good way to hasten the
Singularity ”
“I’m going to find out the top 50 favorite words and then write a book using only those 50 words. Who cares about creativity? It’s about the money, kids.”
I don’t think these comments come out of a desire to just present the other side fairly. I think that this is just, straightforwardly, what they think about the concept of studying reader preferences.
I think you are wrong in saying that no one claims benefits from it: claiming benefits is practically all the linked article does. (BTW, your link goes to page two of the article. You may want to fix that. [Edit: Fixed.])
The article gave one viewpoint (and left out the other), and so everyone else is trying to give the counterpoint. (Not that I’m saying it’s wrong for the article to only give one side: maybe debates work better for transmitting information than balanced pieces. But it certainly is the correct response to try to steelman the other viewpoint when you see an article in favour of one side.)
I don’t think that’s what they were doing. The commenters (the NY Times commenters, btw, not the Ycombinator commenters) seem to genuinely believe that it is only bad and no good.
“It might be the time to download “1984” from your Scribd or Oyster subscription service. I’m sure they have it.”
“Surrendering your thoughts: A Haiku
Creepy. Nasty. Yuk. A good way to hasten the Singularity ”
“I’m going to find out the top 50 favorite words and then write a book using only those 50 words. Who cares about creativity? It’s about the money, kids.”
I don’t think these comments come out of a desire to just present the other side fairly. I think that this is just, straightforwardly, what they think about the concept of studying reader preferences.