Curious About An Internet Ad

[Neogaia777]

I gave up the internet for almost 3 years back around 2011. Even then, I was staying with a family member most weekends and I couldn't resist going online with his computer. Then one day a friend and I were at a Home Depot to buy something. They had a "Now Hiring" sign and he went to ask for an application. Was told he had to apply online, they didn't have paper applications. I knew then by the trajectory of things I wasn't going to be able to keep technology out of my life.

Just keep your nose clean until it's truly time to take a real true stand, and you'll be fine.

God Bless.

 

[Neogaia777]

I gave up the internet for almost 3 years back around 2011. Even then, I was staying with a family member most weekends and I couldn't resist going online with his computer. Then one day a friend and I were at a Home Depot to buy something. They had a "Now Hiring" sign and he went to ask for an application. Was told he had to apply online, they didn't have paper applications. I knew then by the trajectory of things I wasn't going to be able to keep technology out of my life.

And try to keep in mind that internet algorithms are not even anybody doing anything, or knowing anything, and that if you reference one thing even once just about anywhere, that you could all of the sudden see it coming up, or popping up almost anywhere, and that it's not really human beings doing anything, or knowing anything anywhere, etc.

God Bless.

 

[Neogaia777]

And try to keep in mind that internet algorithms are not even anybody doing anything, or knowing anything, and that if you reference one thing even once just about anywhere, that you could all of the sudden see it coming up, or popping up almost anywhere, and that it's not really human beings doing anything, or knowing anything anywhere, etc.

God Bless.

@Chesterton

You'd be surprised how many people are getting very, very paranoid nowadays just over algorithms, etc, which don't have any kind of intelligence at all, but are just predictive lines of code used in a computer program mostly to advertise, or to get you to buy something, etc.

Algorithms are even literally giving some people mental health issues, and are even driving some people of limited intelligence insane, etc.

God Bless.

 

[Chesterton]

And try to keep in mind that internet algorithms are not even anybody doing anything, or knowing anything, and that if you reference one thing even once just about anywhere, that you could all of the sudden see it coming up, or popping up almost anywhere, and that it's not really human beings doing anything, or knowing anything anywhere, etc.

God Bless.

Yeah I know that, but when I gave up the internet it wasn't about privacy concerns and that kind of thing. It was more about it having become a big waste of time in my life, and I wanted to get back to more book reading like I did before the internet. Plus that was combined I guess with a sense of rebellion against the way things are going, and I wanted to see if I even could go without. Turns out, ultimately I couldn't.

 

[Richard T]

I've never had to wear eyeglasses but about two weeks ago I started needing to sometimes wear glasses to read fine print. Yesterday I was watching a YouTube video and I got an advertisement for eyeglasses. It was a little creepy because I'd never received an ad about glasses before, and I had not searched for anything related to glasses or optometry, or visited any retail sites or read any articles about glasses. But then I remembered that three days prior to getting the ad, I typed the word "eyeglasses" in a post in this forum.

I don't know how it works, but is it possible for a bot to crawl a forum like this one, and associate information found with a poster, and know when the poster visits YouTube, for example? I should add that although I visit YouTube occasionally, I've never signed in there, nor with any other part of the Googleverse.

Was this just a coincidence? Am I just being paranoid?

I doubt it is coincidence. How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did Here is a 10 year old story from Target. Nearly every one I know has similar stores as yours. A year ago my sister had just booked a hotel on her phone and I went to book a hotel the next day in a completely different city and I got ads for her exact hotel. I have to assume that somehow there are records that track your cell phone's location versus all other phones. Then when they are similar searches they will link you. Privacy policies are exactly what corporations want. The more information they collect the more you are worth. You are the product they sell. Others are right that disinformation can help. Here is an example

Device Information. We collect information from your devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.), including information about how you interact with our Services and those of our third-party partners and information that allows us to recognize and associate your activity across devices and Services. This information includes device specific identifiers and information such as IP address, cookie information, mobile device and advertising identifiers, browser version, operating system type and version, mobile network information, device settings, and software data. We may recognize your devices to provide you with personalized experiences and advertising across the devices you use.

 

[Chesterton]

I doubt it is coincidence. How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did Here is a 10 year old story from Target. Nearly every one I know has similar stores as yours. A year ago my sister had just booked a hotel on her phone and I went to book a hotel the next day in a completely different city and I got ads for her exact hotel. I have to assume that somehow there are records that track your cell phone's location versus all other phones. Then when they are similar searches they will link you. Privacy policies are exactly what corporations want. The more information they collect the more you are worth. You are the product they sell. Others are right that disinformation can help. Here is an example

Device Information. We collect information from your devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.), including information about how you interact with our Services and those of our third-party partners and information that allows us to recognize and associate your activity across devices and Services. This information includes device specific identifiers and information such as IP address, cookie information, mobile device and advertising identifiers, browser version, operating system type and version, mobile network information, device settings, and software data. We may recognize your devices to provide you with personalized experiences and advertising across the devices you use.

My specific question, though, was whether I could be targeted by posting a single word (eyeglasses) in a web forum. That hasn't really been answered. It seems far-fetched, but I guess it's technically possible. I imagine the FBI is able to scour forums for words like "bomb".

 

[Richard T]

My specific question, though, was whether I could be targeted by posting a single word (eyeglasses) in a web forum. That hasn't really been answered. It seems far-fetched, but I guess it's technically possible. I imagine the FBI is able to scour forums for words like "bomb".

Absolutely, the internet companies basically stalk you. They can know everything you post, and how you interact between various phones and computers. Yes, it is creepy but as they say it is so they can bring you more personalized ads and services.

 

[durangodawood]

The other day I was talking about a song with a friend. I think it was a Scorpions song. Anyway, right after that we got in the car and started it up and it was the same song playing on the radio right then!

 

[Neogaia777]

Absolutely, the internet companies basically stalk you. They can know everything you post, and how you interact between various phones and computers. Yes, it is creepy but as they say it is so they can bring you more personalized ads and services.

And very annoying sometimes.

Sometimes I'm like "come on guys, I moved on from that subject weeks ago now", etc, or "I only looked that up, or plugged that into my browser only once, and already made all the purchases I need, can you guys move on from that one already"...

Ugh, so annoying sometimes, etc.

Goes across all of your devices and services too, really annoying sometimes, especially when you are all done with that particular thing after awhile.

God Bless.

 

[Chesterton]

The other day I was talking about a song with a friend. I think it was a Scorpions song. Anyway, right after that we got in the car and started it up and it was the same song playing on the radio right then!

 

[durangodawood]

View attachment 338242

It was just supposed to be an anecdote to remind us that many curious coincidences are not meaningful.

It really did happen.

 

[Neogaia777]

The other day I was talking about a song with a friend. I think it was a Scorpions song. Anyway, right after that we got in the car and started it up and it was the same song playing on the radio right then!

That one could maybe be possible with some human beings maybe, but you probably would have had to caught a great, great deal of attention with somebody very, very special, or very important, (or very, very rich) probably.

I've had similar things happen quite a bit to me, sometimes to the point that it seemed like it was one right after the other, and after the other, and in pretty quick succession for a while constantly, and I knew these weren't just simple algorithms either, as none of it had to do with searches, or my research, or any kind of advertising or anything, and sometimes many of them, not even remotely possible for human beings, etc, as I doubt they can control the animals, or the weather, or some of these other things I have had happen around me and with me and to me, respectively.

It's been difficult to sort out, and I still have trouble with it still today, but I am starting to grow more comfortable with having some eyes on me, whether it be men, or God, or gods or angels, respectively.

I've already been labeled crazy, so that's of no concern to me, and some would just write it all off as "coincidence" mostly, but when you have so very many of them happen all right in a row, and over and over again so very, very quickly, then there reaches a point when you start thinking about the odds, and it's like flipping a coin over and over again, and either being able to guess what it lands on each and every single time correctly, or having it land on either just only heads, or just only tails, each and every single time, respectively.

God Bless.

 

[Chesterton]

It was just supposed to be an anecdote to remind us that many curious coincidences are not meaningful.

It really did happen.

Okay. I think it was the exclamation mark at the end. You seemed a little too excited by your coincidence.

 

[Neogaia777]

That one could maybe be possible with some human beings maybe, but you probably would have had to caught a great, great deal of attention with somebody very, very special, or very important, (or very, very rich) probably.

I've had similar things happen quite a bit to me, sometimes to the point that it seemed like it was one right after the other, and after the other, and in pretty quick succession for a while constantly, and I knew these weren't just simple algorithms either, as none of it had to do with searches, or my research, or any kind of advertising or anything, and sometimes many of them, not even remotely possible for human beings, etc, as I doubt they can control the animals, or the weather, or some of these other things I have had happen around me and with me and to me, respectively.

It's been difficult to sort out, and I still have trouble with it still today, but I am starting to grow more comfortable with having some eyes on me, whether it be men, or God, or gods or angels, respectively.

I've already been labeled crazy, so that's of no concern to me, and some would just write it all off as "coincidence" mostly, but when you have so very many of them happen all right in a row, and over and over again so very, very quickly, then there reaches a point when you start thinking about the odds, and it's like flipping a coin over and over again, and either being able to guess what it lands on each and every single time correctly, or having it land on either just only heads, or just only tails, each and every single time, respectively.

God Bless.

You know, leaving out the fact of the fact that the chances of some of these many, many things that I experienced right in a row or in quick succession were from happening even once to begin with, etc, and that it's not exactly like flipping a coin over and over again, because the odds always start out 50/50, and are still 50/50 after that, or go from 50%, to 25%, to 12.5%, etc, etc, etc, anyway, leaving that out for a minute, some of these things I experienced, or still do experience, you expect to happen from time to time occasionally, etc, but when it goes from one, to then two, to then maybe three, and then maybe four or five or six, respectively, to then maybe 20 or more in a row everywhere you turn or focus your eyes or ears or focus your other senses anywhere respectively, then even if we compare it to flipping a coin over and over again, the odds begin to get very, very much, extremely, extremely slim or rare right then, or just then respectively, and that is me being very, very generous really.

It used to really, really freak me out, paranoia on a level that I doubt very many of you have ever really known, etc, but I'm starting to get at least a little bit more comfortable with it now at least, though not totally comfortable with it yet completely.

And then trying to sort out the source, or "sources", that was/still is a whole other challenge completely. Some were at least possible at least for some other human beings "maybe", but not nearly all of them completely, etc.

God Bless.

 

[Chesterton]

It was just supposed to be an anecdote to remind us that many curious coincidences are not meaningful.

It really did happen.

On second thought, I want to say that I appreciate the fact that you said many coincidences are not meaningful, which leaves open the idea that some coincidences are meaningful. After all, every coincidence is a just a co-incidence, which does not indicate whether it's meaningful or meaningless.

It's a co-incidence that the sun and moon appear to human perception to be the same size in the sky. It's a coincidence that the stars are laid out in a way which allowed humans to navigate. It's a coincidence that there are horses, camels and donkeys which men could use for transport as they navigate. It's a coincidence that Alexander the Great used horses to spread the Greek language. It's a coincidence that the Greek language is the only one that could most accurately and eloquently express the idea of the "logos", which is the Christ. It's a coincidence that Israel lay at the crossroads of the known world. It's a coincidence that Jesus went into Jerusalem to meet his fate on the cross, on a donkey which has a cross on its back.

At some point, a reasonable man has to say that some coincidences are meaningful.

 

[durangodawood]

On second thought, I want to say that I appreciate the fact that you said many coincidences are not meaningful, which leaves open the idea that some coincidences are meaningful. After all, every coincidence is a just a co-incidence, which does not indicate whether it's meaningful or meaningless.

It's a co-incidence that the sun and moon appear to human perception to be the same size in the sky. It's a coincidence that the stars are laid out in a way which allowed humans to navigate. It's a coincidence that there are horses, camels and donkeys which men could use for transport as they navigate. It's a coincidence that Alexander the Great used horses to spread the Greek language. It's a coincidence that the Greek language is the only one that could most accurately and eloquently express the idea of the "logos", which is the Christ. It's a coincidence that Israel lay at the crossroads of the known world. It's a coincidence that Jesus went into Jerusalem to meet his fate on the cross, on a donkey which has a cross on its back.

At some point, a reasonable man has to say that some coincidences are meaningful.

Everything is meaningful after the fact.

If there weren't horses, something else would have happened. And the interlocking factors that allowed that history would have been meaningful to the results - in hindsight.

 

[Chesterton]

Everything is meaningful after the fact.

Well yeah, nothing can be meaningful before it happens.

If there weren't horses, something else would have happened. And the interlocking factors that allowed that history would have been meaningful to the results - in hindsight.

Something else would have happened? Maybe dogs would be larger and have stronger backs so we could ride them? That would still be a meaningful coincidence.

 

[durangodawood]

Well yeah, nothing can be meaningful before it happens.

Thats not true. The intentions of a conscious being put meaning first, and then action follows. Im saying the fact that horses were really useful isnt evidence that any intention preceded that fact.

Something else would have happened? Maybe dogs would be larger and have stronger backs so we could ride them? That would still be a meaningful coincidence.

Or we would have bred cattle into something ridable. Or we'd walk and human culture would move more slowly.

 

[Chesterton]

Thats not true. The intentions of a conscious being put meaning first, and then action follows. Im saying the fact that horses were really useful isnt evidence that any intention preceded that fact.

Of course it's evidence. I don't think I said it was solid proof, but it is evidence.

Or we would have bred cattle into something ridable. Or we'd walk and human culture would move more slowly.

Probably best that we both stick with reality - what did happen rather than 100 other things that could have happened.

 

[durangodawood]

Of course it's evidence. I don't think I said it was solid proof, but it is evidence.

I dont see how. Theres nothing to indicate meaning preceded the presence of horses. Meaning or no meaning, the outcome would have been the same because humans found them useful.

Probably best that we both stick with reality - what did happen rather than 100 other things that could have happened.

Counterfactuals offer an important test. They can help us decide whether an outcome had to be a certain way or not.