Without understanding much regarding the details of what “OpenAI” announced on Friday, I will nonetheless venture out on a limb and suggest that we have now reached Peak ASS (Artificially Sentient Slop). Therefore, I have chosen to interrupt my sort of “Reflections on Propaganda (as told by Edward Bernays)” to bring you a message from… Continue reading Peak ASS (Artificially Sentient Slop)
Tag: natural language
Nuances in Milieus
The state university prospers according to the extent to which it can sell itself to the people of the state. Edward Bernays, “Propaganda”, p. 124 Many millennia ago, not a single human activity was remunerated — (perhaps) simply because the concept of money had not yet been invented. Today, there seems to be no human… Continue reading Nuances in Milieus
Business Languages
After much thought, I have come to the conclusion that I want to extend my interest in “Wants” (see http://Wants.Blog ) to more professional, career oriented “business interests“. Over the years. I have noticed that very few people seem to be aware of the fact that business actually refers to the state of being busy.… Continue reading Business Languages
Rational Media + Business Communications
Besides trudging through Edward Bernays’ book (“Propaganda”) I am also currently on vacation trudging through mountainous terrains in central Europe — perhaps I will update with more images later, but let me start off with this image of collaboration between business and communications first: I also offer (as somewhat of a preview) another quote from… Continue reading Rational Media + Business Communications
Pavlov, Natural Language, Rubber Stamps, Repetition, …
Nature and natural language are certainly forces to be reckoned with, and so Pavlov’s experiments showing that to some extent interpretations of the real world can be influenced by what has become referred to as “behavioral conditioning” were truly groundbreaking. At the same time, we need to recognize that human natural languages are a special… Continue reading Pavlov, Natural Language, Rubber Stamps, Repetition, …
Publicacy 101: Edward Bernays + Propaganda = Industrialization of Institutional Knowledge Acquisition in the Twentieth Century
A short course on publicacy and the relationship of this concept to literacy and also related fields such as public relations, business and general communications, etc.
Let’s Kill “Social Media”
In the early 2010s, teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones and the phone-based childhood began: their social lives moved on to social media. Jonathan Haidt, “How screens stole childhood — and how to get it back” (“TED Talk”, April 2026) Jonathan Haidt and his colleagues have been on a long-standing concerted campaign to… Continue reading Let’s Kill “Social Media”
Economics of Information 2.0: Censorship
Just to remind you, last week I started off with: Traditionally, the field known as the “Economics of Information” has mainly been focused on how market prices happen (in the “supply and demand” scheme of things). “Economics of Information 2.0: Advertising“ And then I talked a bunch about how (predominantly online) advertising today has changed… Continue reading Economics of Information 2.0: Censorship
Impedant Commerce
This week I felt both devastated and yet also hopeful at the same time (more or less). Actually, the devastation came first: Buzzkill died (see “Life is a scam” [ https://obit.news.blog/2026/07/26/life-is-a-scam ] ). I can’t really explain my very strong emotional reaction. The “NoAgenda Show” has existed for a very long time and seemed to be… Continue reading Impedant Commerce
Online Interventions
A significant part of “the meaning of life” is to intervene in some way — to make a contribution, to have an impact, etc. (cf. Viktor Frankl’s notion of so-called “logotherapy”). I choose to intervene online. I don’t need to march around, get into a car, drive somewhere, or get into a plane to travel… Continue reading Online Interventions
