I don't think that buying more things will improve my baseline happiness, but I do get pleasure from my consumer behavior. Today's consumerist society comes with costs, but stress and insecurity aren't new, and maybe not a bad tradeoff for the agricultural lifestyle we left behind. Communes are out there for people who get bored with their four hours of daily television.

I'm just trying to find out what would make mk happy. He doesn't want Facebook to sell user data, but when the documentary says they don't sell data, he expresses concern about gathering data.

He says it's okay if someone searching for "stem cell storage" sees an ad for Forever Labs, but if they search for "Wankel engine" and land on a car video, Mazda should "absolutely" be blocked from showing an ad with that video (though his next sentence seems to say the reverse).

My point is not that privacy is worthless, but that Mazda's desire to sell cars will not be reduced by making it harder for them to find customers. They will adjust to controls on targeted advertising, perhaps with larger and less discriminating campaigns. That means more demand for ads, and more revenue and influence for Facebook.