What if we banned all advertising? Not regulate it—abolish it. This proposal would transform manipulation machines, and maybe save democracy itself. A thought experiment worth considering.

The idea feels like sci-fi because you’re so used to it, imagining ads gone feels like asking to outlaw gravity. But humanity had been free of current forms of advertising for 99.9% of its existence. Word-of-mouth and community networks worked just fine. First-party websites and online communities would now improve on that.

The traditional argument pro-advertising—that it provides consumers with necessary information—hasn’t been valid for decades.

  • MisanthropiCynic@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    9 days ago

    Idk

    I only remember because there were two gas stations by my house and one of them you could not get gas at all because it was an all electronic system but the other one still had the manual handles you could flip up and the pumps still worked when they turned it on inside even without the screen