this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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Yup, that's intended. The original Mechanical Turk was a con, just like Amazon's "just walk out" service.
The Amazon's Mechanical Turk was never a con. It's been known for a very long time that it's a way to outsource human tasks on a large scale cheaply. Like, a very long time. I think I first heard about it like 12 years ago?
Unless you mean the way it exploits poor countries for cheap labor. I wouldn't call that a con, but it is fucked.
By "original Mechanical Turk", I am clearly referring to the chess player inside a box. It was a con because the system was presented as an automaton, when it is simply human labour.
And I am calling Amazon's "just walk out" service also a con because it was touted as automatic, even if also being mostly human labour.
I am not calling "Amazon's Mechanical Turk" a con. It is exploitative, as you said, but it is not a con. People know that it is human labour, and Amazon does not try to hide it.
Is this clear now?
Yep, thanks