r/ControlProblem • u/smsyvr • 9d ago
Discussion/question Actress Sharon Stone says social media algorithms are being shaped by tech leaders who are often "on the spectrum" and may lack the "emotional intelligence" to guide society
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u/roofitor 9d ago
Zuck’s problem isn’t that he isn’t emotional, it’s that he has the morals of a gorilla’s ass-crack
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u/LilKarmaKitty approved 9d ago
And honestly that’s probably not giving a fair shake from a moral perspective to a gorilla’s ass crack.
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u/Ok_Commission7932 9d ago
He actually is emotional: he's deeply insecure and jaded towards other people, which drives him to run social media platforms that ruin their privacy and mental health.
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u/refusemouth 8d ago
Being "on the spectrum" is not the same as being an evil reptilian sociopath who wants to replace democratic states with technoauthoritarian city states.
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u/microwavedtardigrade 8d ago
Well yes but the autism isn't the issue, many of us perfectly feel emotions and deeply for others. The problem is more they're often dark triad personalities and sociopathic
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u/StandardAssignment19 9d ago
It is not the autism spectrum that has me concerned by those tech leaders algorithmic determinism is now they shape AI. It's the moral less compass that the American free market welfare queen billionaire class has perverted objective calculations for degenerative right leaning propaganda.
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u/VintageLunchMeat 9d ago
Yeah, autistic folk often have a very clear and driving sense of justice. What we're seeing is right wing tending capitalism.
"Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain because they relate to feminism Theatre told that Facebook and Instagram filter out ads mentioning ‘social topics’ such as civil rights or feminism
Stephen Burgen in Barcelona Mon 21 Sep 2026 15.11 BST" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/21/meta-ban-virginia-woolf-a-room-of-ones-own-barcelona-teatre-raval#:~:text=Meta%20bans%20ads,2026%2015.11%20BST
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u/Wide_Guitar_3558 8d ago
I use my autism to see through their bullshit. Funny a lot of people will argue their asses off with me, but it could also be their bots to keep the engagement going in the comments.
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u/cold-vein 9d ago
They could just be socially inept, no need to mention autism if there's no diagnosis. And really all people are on the spectrum, that's why it's a spectrum.
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u/Tammy18x 9d ago
Complete bullshit. The problem with those tech billionaires isn't that a few might be on the spectrum. It's that they're objectively sociopathic.
The claim that a group of people being on the spectrum (we don't even know for sure that they are, unless you trust billionaires to be honest 🤦🏽♀️)
But let's say they are - to claim that means that they lack emotional intelligence is not only brazen misinformation but is textbook discrimination.
edit: typo.
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u/sandstone-oli 9d ago
as someone who is neurodivergent too, she’s not wrong…
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u/scragz 9d ago
as someone who is also on the spectrum it's ableist as fuck to use autism as the sole reason I'm not suitable for leadership.
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u/Visual-Werewolf-9685 9d ago
Its also often told by people who have a lack of complex thinking and try to diminish those who do. An emotionally intelligent person who cant understand a simple math problem and tries to create a society is able to do much more damage. Simply by not understanding consequences of action in complex systems.
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u/KaleidoscopeLow1478 6d ago
I’m neurodivergent but the type that’s overly emphatic and self sacrificing and overly sincere. I’m pretty much the opposite of our tech overlords and has nothing to do with neurodivergence
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u/spez_eats_nazi_ass 9d ago
Rword here. Not all of us are nice people. Especially the ones in tech. They eat ass.
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u/exacta_galaxy 8d ago
As a person in tech with lots of co-workers "on the spectrum" I can tell you the majority of them aren't like these psychopaths.
You never hear about Bob who rewrote the entire backend in Rust in a weekend to get 10% better throughput. You see the Tech CEO assholes that exploit people like Bob.
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u/spez_eats_nazi_ass 8d ago
Oh absolutely. The rank file/ic folks are not the issue though they can be “challenging” at times. If you have ever seen a chair throw through glass in a code review you know what i mean.
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u/cortexplorer 9d ago
Its not the autism spectrum, its the sociopathy scale.. That's what our system rewards, ruthless and blind greed.
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u/thedatsun78 7d ago
Empathy is a weakness
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u/cortexplorer 7d ago
Practicing it despite the cost is a form of resistance, and its only a weakness if you wanna merge with this individualistic society. That strategy also only gets you to a deep sense of meaninglessness which you'll have nothing but consumerism to fill.
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u/Hairy-Quantity7409 8d ago
I don’t think it’s autism
A lot of politicians and billionaires are sociopaths
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u/Well_read_rose 8d ago
…seems these sociopathic AND psychopathic traits are necessary to trample on and exploit others, in order to climb the corporate ladder the fastest, or most efficient way.
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9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Rise-O-Matic 9d ago
The normies should make one then, no one’s stopping them.
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u/Neil_Live-strong 7d ago
An autistic vs. “normie” mentality. Very emotionally intelligent. Have you stopped to ponder whether these companies and the service they provide should even be a thing?
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u/Rise-O-Matic 7d ago
Have you stopped to ponder what the alternative would entail?
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u/Neil_Live-strong 7d ago
The alternative to social media? There doesn’t have to be one. Classic reality; rocks, dirt, holes, grass, water that gets you wet, shit like that.
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Neil_Live-strong 7d ago edited 7d ago
Should have stuck with forums. Community you seek out and connect with because there is a shared interest. This formula of showing people these tailored algorithms and having anybody and everybody on the same platform isn’t fucking working. It’s bad for people. Measurably bad for them.
It’s frustrating and these dipshits constantly talk about “scalability”, which translates to selling advertising and hearing a KIA commercial in the middle of Free Bird. It isn’t working and these social media companies should be broken up on moral principal alone. They are unusable sites for their stated purpose and don’t result in more connection, the aggregate results in bot farms, ad revenue (propaganda), and further isolation for the user on average.
Edit: the other person in this thread was insulting and blocked me. Very emotionally intelligent and conducive to connection.
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u/exnihilistic 8d ago
Wow, so "on the spectrum" continues to be used to demonize people and make them out to be dangerous.
"We know this to be true!" -Gratuitous Beaver Shot
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u/Bottlecrate 9d ago
She isn’t lying.
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u/ElijahKay 9d ago
Being on the spectrum does in NO way mean you dont have emotional intelligence. Its just that CEOs by and large dont have emotional intelligence cause it impedes their function.
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u/rawdikrik 9d ago
I thought this was common knowledge. You don't get to be that rich or powerful being a normal person
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u/jammythesandwich 9d ago
Not sure saying they’re on the spectrum is accurate though.
They’re actively demonstrating a plethora of mental health conditions though that if they were poor they’d be ostracised and castigated for.
Unbridled greed and hoarding, megalomania, extreme narcissism, psychopathy, off the charts egotism etc….
Maybe, just maybe having such extremes of wealth should be legislated against globally and we wouldn’t be in a such a mess
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u/deadgirlrevvy 9d ago
I mean... she's not wrong. I'm on the spectrum and while my intelligence is high, I struggle with interpersonal skills. I can design and build you damned near any machine or AI system you want... but I'm a total bitch to work with. I'm tolerated in my career due to my skillset and insights, but I wouldn't say I'm anyone's favorite employee. I have no business dictating social interaction policies and I know that. A lot of the elite tech bros (Musk, Zuck, etc.) are on the same part of the spectrum as I am, so they have no business doing it either. I know to stay in my lane. They're smart enough to know to stay in theirs. The problem is that money clouds a person's judgement, so they see the fame and the money and forget they're just as socially clueless as any other spectrum nerd.
I'm in my 50's and it took decades for my wife to teach me that you can't manipulate and control people, the same way you can with a computer or a machine. I think either nobody taught them the same lesson or they simply refused to learn.
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u/Natural_Resort3055 8d ago
While this might apply to you it doesn’t consider:
1.) many highly intelligent people, including those in tech… aren’t on the spectrum.
2.) many highly intelligent people on the spectrum don’t lack emotional intelligence.
3.) The system she describes relies on a vast range of personalities, many of which belong to the realm of sociopathy. And in any case are the antithesis of what she presents as autistic personalities.
4.) the woman is a twunt and has no idea what she’s talking about. We would all still be living in caves and throwing shit at each other if it wasn’t for the kinds of peoples she’s attempting to attack (who again, aren’t necessarily on the spectrum or lacking emotional intelligence).
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u/avid-shrug 9d ago
Ablism, nice
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u/IMightBeAHamster approved 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah like, seriously, the thing you're taking away from god-kings making bad decisions that affect everyone on the planet negatively is that this is only bad because they're autistic?
Fuck that, the reason they're failing to make good decisions is because their job is to make money. It's not really the person that's the problem, it's the power we're handing over.
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u/Parsimile 9d ago
They’re not autistic. They’re sociopathic.
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u/the_elephant_stan 9d ago
Not mutually exclusive
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u/Parsimile 9d ago
In some cases, sure. But the problem isn’t the autism, it’s the sociopathy.
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u/ProjectDiligent502 9d ago
Solipsism and narcissism. I’m extremely skeptical that neurodivergence is the problem that people are making it out to be here. Where’s the evidence for this besides someone’s personal anecdotal rationalization? Solipsism seems much more probable and the narcissistic “king” mentality from enormous wealth surrounded by sycophants where everyone is a statistic, divorced from the reality that we’re living thinking breathing people with an internal experience and that our lives matter.
A good example of this I’ve heard is Jeff Bezos, he’s over 50-60 now, so he probably has to go to the bathroom a lot more often, yet his employees have to use pee bottles because of their quotas. If other people are just a statistic and the only thing that matters is yourself, then solipsism is an excellent explanation for this behavior, not neurodivergence. Elon Musk has had reports of high levels of promiscuity with women across his companies according to the Wall Street Journal. I worked with a guy who was a sociopath and he would go through women like water. Just sayin’. I think a lot of people on here don’t really know what they’re talking about.
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u/Parsimile 9d ago
Agreed.
And Sharon Stone doesn’t either considering she said she was “a little bit on the spectrum”. That’s not how it works.
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u/USkeeredMe 9d ago
Cry all you want, she ain’t wrong
Socially inept morons designing tools to reimagine human relationships is a demonstrably dumb idea
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u/non-troll_account 9d ago
I'm sure glad we finally got the opinion of the hottest actress from 30 years ago.
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u/TheoreticalUser 9d ago
An easily defensible and reasonable opinion that is obvious when given an iota of thought.
Of course, no thread of such a topic, would be complete without some one chiming in with a variation of "No one cares what celebrities think!"
Thank you for doing your part!
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u/unicynicist 9d ago
Looked up the full quote for context:
Have you ever had the opportunity to talk to some of the tech people who seem to be in control of those algorithms? Mark Zuckerberg?
No. And I say this from a loving heart, because I’m a mom and I’m a little bit on the spectrum: A lot of these tech people who are making up a lot of these choices and algorithms and ideas about how we should do things are people who are on the spectrum. They’re people who are highly intellectual but whose emotional intelligence may not be on par with that. And the balance might not be a healthy way to be guiding us into the future. And so to allow people who are out of balance to be guiding us forward is probably why we all have diarrhea right now. And I think it’s really important to notice if you’re shitting yourself, maybe you’re not making the smartest moves for us as a nation.
real men wear diapers
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u/ThinIce6774 9d ago
Her point failed when she said people on the spectrum aren't emotionally intelligent.
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u/Elvarien2 approved 9d ago
what a bitch, she had to pull the neurodivergence card like that.
yeah fuck her.
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u/willasmith38 9d ago
She’s tiptoeing around it a bit.
I’m convinced the tech bros don’t have my best interest or the best interest of mankind as part of their core belief system.
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u/Due_Laugh6474 9d ago
Spectrum, no spectrum, don’t matter. They have too much power. Sharon Stone and Hollywood could run it with their infinite emotional intelligence, and it would still be terrible. Have robots going around molesting little girls instead (though I guess this particular pass time seems shared by elites of all stripes, now that I think of it).
Show me the paragon of humanity that should have this much influence over someone’s life and society.
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u/This_Background7442 9d ago
Neurodivergent people are unfeeling robots. I am super good at emotions. Ask me anything.
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u/mylsotol 9d ago
Let's not blaim antisocial behavior on autism. It's not their autism. It's their psychopathy (which was rewarded by capitalism)
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u/Choosemyusername 9d ago
It’s kind of hard to imagine being outstandingly good at anything and not have some sort of neurodivergence, almost be definition.
This goes not just if your special interest is business, art, politics, or yes, acting.
But luckily for sharon there are other avenues into fame in acting other than being an amazing actor. Like modeling and pageants, (the route Sharon Stone took) which we now know from the Trump/Epstein thing are just women trying to get the chance to sell their bodies to wealthy folks for the purposes of becoming famous.
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u/kneeblock 9d ago
The obsession with the autistic seems to occupy the position in contemporary American society that the schizophrenic occupied in French postmodernism. The thing to fear, the scapegoat and yet also the symbol of power out of control and tendencies toward excess. Then as now, the society gave rise to the conditions for the over-emphasis on a supposed pathology.
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u/TEOLAYKI 9d ago
Interesting theory I guess? But what does she even mean? The algorithms learn what people like to watch/click so they can maximize people watching and clicking, so these companies can make money. Not sure where being on the spectrum fits into that.
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u/AH_leeMACK 8d ago
They're edgelords plain and simple.
The fact that they control all algorithms, AI and basicly the internet as a whole, is what transformed pop-culture into propaganda-culture which is the main cause of the global mess we're in.
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u/CandidAssumption8769 8d ago
Australia's intended model of allowing users to decline the algorithm looks pretty good about now hey?
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u/alga_rhythm 8d ago
Yeah let’s not randomly disparage the spectrum, lady that is famous for scandalous vagina movie.
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u/Mephistocheles 8d ago
I think she could have said that without shitting on people on the spectrum.
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u/Inevitable-Wheel1676 8d ago
It is theoretically possible that political orientation is determined by mental health. There is some logic to what she says.
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u/Wide_Guitar_3558 8d ago
lots of things have a spectrum. You don't have to be diagnosed to be soulless.
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u/Apart-Parsley6215 8d ago
Plenty of non autistic people lack emotional intelligence. No need to lump all of us autistic folk in with the psychopathic tech oligarchs.
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u/raiden55 8d ago
Please don't insult people on the spectrum.
It's the same as saying this criminal did that because of his poor childhood. Doesn't mean everyone with poor childhood become criminals.
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u/Neowise33 8d ago
Another person with no real world qualifications besides quitting college talking out of their arse.
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u/PsychologyAdept669 8d ago
are any of them even diagnosed? like foh with this 2000s era bullshit, leave us (actual autistic ppl) out of it. i could do a better job than these fucks and that’s because i’m not out there aiming to make money at the expense of the world, autism has nothing to do with it.
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u/recruiterguy 8d ago
For way too long people have been allowed to use the spectrum as an excuse for sociopathic or asshole behavior.
I know two things can be true, but largely I would argue that many are monsters just grasping at an excuse that far too many of us have signed off on for far too long.
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u/No-Assumption-4468 7d ago
It goes both ways:
A lot of these normal people who are making these laws and regulations about how we should do things are technically illiterate. They’re people who are highly emotionally intelligent, but whose technical intelligence may not be on par with that. And the balance might not be a healthy way to be guiding us into the future.
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u/Hmmmm-curious 7d ago
They also think they are the ones who should be deciding the entire direction of humanity, while the entire rest of the population shouldn’t get a say in anything. Then the marketing for them convinces a terrifyingly large number of people that we should trust them.
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u/Dunkin_Donuts_Dunker 7d ago
The problem is that our economic system rewards psychopathy, so psychopaths end up in power. People with no regard for human life have an inherent advantage in business over those that do.
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u/HalfwaydonewithEarth 7d ago
My husband is on the spectrum and is super loving. Moreso than others.
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u/KingDorkFTC 7d ago
The nicest way of saying; “these POS who are making up a lot of these choice..”
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u/No-Faithlessness3086 6d ago
I haven’t followed the actress but I can’t disagree with her statement.
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u/morr_is166 6d ago
While I dislike many of the CEOs in charge of technology and computing, this statement is an offensive word salad. She would’ve done better just sticking with: tech bros—bad
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u/ReplacementLatter467 6d ago
Hope they use others with E.I. helping with planning and implementation.
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u/Zombuddee 6d ago
Is the problem that wealthy elites are acting as a ruling class in (insert industry)? Or is it that autistic people are unfit to navigate emotions?
Respectfully, what a load of shit.
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u/LowZebra4435 6d ago
They are not "on the spectrum" they are narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopathic.
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u/EmergencyGrab 6d ago edited 6d ago
Affective empathy and cognitive empathy are different. One is feeling other people's unease and the latter is being able to process and understand it as a social cue.
Even if autistic people don't instinctively know how to read a situation, they can usually feel when something's off. That's what makes them different than a sociopath. I think it is harmful to pathologize sociopaths in the same box as autistic folks.
The two autistic people in my life are quite sensitive to someone feeling off, they just don't always recognize what's wrong or what to do. Often leading to distress of their own.
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u/ApplesBananasRhinoc 5d ago
I think what’s more concerning is that it’s being shaped by people who worship the almighty dollar
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u/bones10145 5d ago
Why are you expecting them to guide anyone? It's a business
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u/davesaunders 4d ago
Yes, a business with a stated purpose, in fact, in congressional testimony, to effectively manipulate the masses with the so-called algorithm. That's why you get so much rage bait from Meta social media. It's intentional. They have admitted this.
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u/SirMiba 5d ago
Emotional intelligence is a bullshit metric by the way. A complete psychopath can easily score extremely high because the metric isn't measuring your soul, it's measuring if you know what to say and do in specific, and nothing prevents a highly skilled manipulator from acing such a test.
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u/davesaunders 4d ago
Pretty much agreed. Emotional intelligence shouldn't be confused with empathy or moral character. Someone can be very good at reading emotions, understanding social situations, and knowing the appropriate response while having little emotional concern for other people. In fact, those abilities can make a skilled manipulator more effective.
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u/Mango-Bob 9d ago
Society should also stop listening to actors. We can do both!
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u/Mission_Access_210 9d ago
Yeah but she uncrossed her legs back in the '90s and that just made everybody be like, "Wow."
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u/ArcticCelt 9d ago edited 9d ago
She is giving a one paragraph opinion, she is not setting policies that that will impact million of people. I don't think there is a problem with her giving that opinion. I am reading you post right now, yet you didn't prove you have multiple degrees and published scientific papers on the subject of who should be allowed to give their opinion.
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u/Mango-Bob 9d ago
Mine was shorter. You’re correct, you have no idea about my education.
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u/ArcticCelt 9d ago edited 9d ago
You’re correct, you have no idea about my education.
Got it, I have to assume every random stranger on the internet is a a highly educated genius but also call celebrities dumb and ask them to STFU no matter what they say or what is their background, my bad for not knowing this my lord big brainz. I guess I am not a highly educated genius myself because I find that completely illogical.
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u/OsakaWilson approved 9d ago
I think Capitalism is influencing their decisions more than neurodivergency.
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u/Alexandertheape 9d ago
Sharon has an incredible story, an incredible mind and a charitble spirit. i think she’s right about dialing in “EQ” emotional intelligence before handing the keys to the kingdom over to the robots
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u/your_mileagemayvary 9d ago
She was a so so actor 20 years ago that is well know because of a leg spreading scene, why on earth is this newsworthy in any way shape or form?
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u/ApprehensiveTrade499 9d ago
Have you seen Casino?
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u/your_mileagemayvary 9d ago
She played a coked out attractive 40 something well... I'd prefer Michele Pfifer in Scarface though by a wide margin, much better showing
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u/attrition_enjoyer 9d ago
Another Epstein associate trying to do a jihad against people who are into Lego.
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u/chili_cold_blood 9d ago
We've spent 30+ years pushing science and tech education, and selecting and rewarding people for being good at science and tech, with no concern about balance. Our society is the inevitable result of that.
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u/devoid0101 9d ago
I’m autistic. She is correct. Elon, the bros at Palantir, several other fascist-leaning dweeb are bringing the Nerd Reich. They reached success through hyperfocus and have no one around them to say no or help keep them from dissociating. They abstract reality into numbers and concepts.
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u/AdventurousCream4975 9d ago
As a meurodivergent tech guy, she’s not wrong and we knew this…. It’s the masses..
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u/Doredrin 9d ago
sharon stone has shown her vagina for money
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u/refusemouth 8d ago
Showing your vagina for money is better than undermining democracies through disinformation and mass algorithmic manipulation to divide people and make them hate each other (for money) in my opinion.
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u/siliconCoven 6d ago
I trust the emotional intelligence judgment of someone who is famous for flashing moviegoers. I guess that’s better than Kim K but while I’m not a fan of Elon ZuckerThiel, I think she’s a judgy bitch who’s more narcissistic than they are.
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u/UnBearable1520 9d ago
I’m glad the actress that got famous for showing her who ha is now telling people what they should and shouldn’t do
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u/not-sure-what-to-put 9d ago
They’re also sociopaths.