zlacker

I tend to agree with this line of thinking, but I wonder if banning advertising wont have similar difficulties. There will be more sneaky product placement, anonymous donations to podcasters who tend to promote certain products/beliefs/etc.

I say this not because I think we should just give up and not ban advertising but because I'm curious how it might be done effectively.

>>dwiel+(OP)
Almost certainly the same influence patterns would emerge in different forms elsewhere, perhaps even more insidious forms!

Hence, why I think it really is (one of) the hardest challenges of our century: How do you eliminate or severely restrict influence vectors?

Who/how determines what qualifies as good/bad influence or reality?

Should positive (however defined) influence be allowed/promoted?

Not sure this one is solvable as it would require a global optimization vector which we don't (and maybe can't) generate.