Lice, fleas and tapeworms have been a companion of humanity throughout their evolutionary history.
However, the biggest parasites of today are not blood-spreading invertebrates. It is refined, glass covered and addictive by its design. That host? Every human on Earth with a WiFi signal.
Far from being a benign tool, smartphones are parasitized by our time, our attention, our personal information, all in the interests of technology companies and their advertisers.
In a new article in Australian Journal of Philosophywe argue that smartphones pose unique social risks.
What exactly is a parasite?
Evolutionary biologists define a parasite as a species that benefits from a close relationship with another species (the host), but the host is costly.
Head licefor example, it completely depends on our own species for its survival. They eat only human blood, and if they are kicked out of the host, they will survive temporarily unless they are lucky enough to fall onto another human scalp. In return for our blood, head lice only gives us nasty itch. That’s the cost.
Smartphones have fundamentally changed our lives. From navigating cities to managing chronic health diseases Diabetes etc.these pocket-sized technologies make our lives easier. Most of us rarely have them.
But despite their interests, many of us are unable to completely disconnect for our cell phones and slaves, and we have hostages in our cell phones and slaves. Phone User I’m paying the price Lack of sleep, weak offline relationships and mood disorders.
From reciprocity to parasiticism
Not all close species relationships are parasites. Many living creatures that live within or within us are beneficial.
Think about bacteria in the animal’s digestive tract. They can survive and reproduce in the intestines of their host species, and eat through nutrients. But they Provide benefits For hosts that include improving immunity and improving digestion. These win-win associations are called reciprocity.
The Human Smartphone Association began as reciprocity. This technology has proven useful for humans to stay in touch, navigate through maps and find useful information.
Philosophers say this is not from a reciprocal perspective, but rather a mobile phone. Expansion of the human mindnotebooks, maps, other tools, etc.
However, from these benign origins, we argue that the relationship has become a parasite. Such changes are not inherently uncommon. a Reciprocity can evolve to become a parasiteor vice versa.
Smartphones as parasites
As smartphones become almost undependent, some of the most popular apps they offer have become more useful for the interests of companies and their advertisers who create apps more faithfully than human users.
These apps Designed Finely adjust our behavior Continue scrollingclick on the ad and boil in permanent rage.
Data on scrolling behavior is used to further promote its exploitation. Your phone is simply hoping to spend more quality time with your kids to care about your personal fitness goals or use this information to adjust and bring your attention.
So, at least in some cases, it’s useful to think of a user and their phone as resembling a host or parasite.
This realization is interesting in itself, but the advantage of looking at smartphones through the lens of parasitic evolution comes from itself when we consider where the relationships go next and how to disrupt these high-tech parasites.
Where policing comes in
About the Great Barrier Reef BlueStreak Cleaner Wrasse The larger fish allow the wraps to establish a “cleaning station” where dead skin, loose scales and invertebrate parasites live in the gills. This relationship is classical reciprocity. Larger fish lose costly parasites and are fed with cleaner Wrass.
Sometimes the cleaner wraps “cheat” and interject the host, leaning from reciprocity to parasitism. The fish may be cleaned Punish criminals By chasing them away or withholding further visits. This shows something that coral reef fish think is important to maintain a balance of reciprocity: policing.
Can smartphone exploitation be properly policed and Netbenefia relationships be restored?
Evolution shows that two things are important. The ability to detect exploitation when it occurs and to respond (usually by withdrawing services to parasites).
A difficult battle
With smartphones, exploitation cannot be easily detected. A high-tech company that designs a variety of features and algorithms to keep picking up your phone This behavior is not advertised.
But even knowing the exploitative nature of smartphone apps, answering is more difficult than simply placing a phone.
Many of us rely on smartphones for our daily tasks. Instead of remembering the facts, offload the task to a digital device. For some people, This can change your cognition and memory.
We rely on us to have a camera to capture life events or simply record where we parked our car. this Both enhance and limit the memory of events.
Governments and businesses have further strengthened our reliance on phones by moving service offerings online via mobile apps. I picked up a phone to access my bank account and access government services, but I lost the fight.
So how can users correct their imbalance relationship with their mobile phone and revert the parasitic relationship back to a reciprocal relationship?
Our analysis suggests that individual choices do not ensure that users are acquired. We are voiced individually by the large information advantages that tech companies hold in the host parasite army race.
Australian Government Social media ban for minors These are examples of collective actions necessary to limit what these parasites can legally do. You also need to limit yourself to win a battle App features known to be addictiveand about the collection and sale of personal data.
Rachel L. BrownDirector of the Center for Philosophy of Science and Associate Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University and Rob BrooksProfessor of Science of Evolution, UNSW Sydney
This article has been republished conversation Under the Creative Commons license. Please read Original article.
