That's not practically possible unless you choose to live alone in a controlled box. Even the infrastructure you're forced to interact with is a form of communication that manipulates you into certain behaviors.
But then, maybe that's where we're headed as a society with the explosion of one person households, remote work, and delivery services. It's increasingly possible for the majority of people to actually live a completely solitary life, controlling their information input by restricting it only to a screen.
>That's not practically possible unless you choose to live alone in a controlled box.
You omit a wide variety of possibilities, and claim there is only one possible approach, and so construct a straw-man. Options range from introducing a protocol, to adding paid-speech disclosure.
People looking for signatures show the way: "Can I talk to you about X?" is perfectly workable offline. You can say "No" and be on your way. "Would you like to hear a presentation on a fantastic time-share investment?" again, you say no and be on your way.
One simple thing we can do is require disclosure for paid-for speech. Maybe wear a lapel pin or something on TV, and a hashtag on twitter. The details can be worked out, but "living alone in a box" is not a real or desirable possibility.
The tradeoff to extricating yourself from being influenced without your consent, is that you lose the ability to you yourself influence how society and civilization progresses.
That's an interesting and important point. I suppose if everyone takes this attitude then society would fall apart, unless people are spontaneously feeling the need to connect with each other. But I'm skeptical that you need to acquiesce to the increasingly corporate communications vying for your attention, just to stay available for real human connection.
The internet is a medium that facilitates asynchronous communications with like minds. You can leave a comment on a website, or link to your blog post, as a beacon to anyone who's opted into a similar filter bubble. They can find it and contact you. Yes, it will be unsolicited, but not in the same way as a marketing email or billing notice is unsolicited. Nobody is communicating without consent when publishers and readers are participating in a shared community.
If I publish a blog post on my hobby, and someone I've never met emails me about partnering on a project for the hobby, then although it's unsolicited, I would still appreciate the email and follow up. It might take me a while to notice it since I only check my email every few days, but I will almost certainly reply. A personal connection is a welcome respite from a noisy onslaught of automated communications.
That's not practically possible unless you choose to live alone in a controlled box. Even the infrastructure you're forced to interact with is a form of communication that manipulates you into certain behaviors.
But then, maybe that's where we're headed as a society with the explosion of one person households, remote work, and delivery services. It's increasingly possible for the majority of people to actually live a completely solitary life, controlling their information input by restricting it only to a screen.
https://ourworldindata.org/living-alone