[delbronski]

As a European, I much prefer technological stagnation over technological progress that is harmful to society.

[ecb_penguin]

"As a European, I much prefer technological stagnation over bundled messenger apps"

Fixed it for you.

[niek_pas]

The ruling here is about choice of recommendation system ('algorithm'), which ties into social media addiction as well as electoral influence. So there's actually quite a bit at stake.

[quotemstr]

Civilizations that think this way get conquered by ones that don't, and afterwards, nobody much cares what they thought.

[vanviegen]

If we're talking about actual technological innovation, then yes perhaps.

In this case we're talking about social media 'innovation' though. The science and art of getting a population highly addicted to doom scrolling. I'm not sure if that will help said population outcompete the other guys.

[em-bee]

we are being conquered by google and facebook already. them leaving would be the exact opposite.

[darkmighty]

This seems like a bit of an empty moral panic/slippery slope appeal. As a general rule, it could go either way: civilizations can also collapse from not-enough-regulation, not-enough-rule of law, oligarchic capture, or even just become a megacorporation dystopia without collapsing for a long time, maybe ever. Better to critique the specific case, if you have any objections.

[skrebbel]

You think the US is going to invade Europe and enforce a techno-capitalist oligarchy on it?

[Workaccount2]

Europe has this delusion that they can keep living their magically relaxed life, and continue to both fund it and stay relevant on the world stage.

FYI, the big players today are the US and China. Nobody has the heart to call and tell Europeans that they aren't really part of the future, they're still away on their 8th week long holiday of the year.

Not staying economically relevant is far (far) more harmful to society than forgoing social media.

[delbronski]

Yeah sure, because life in the USA is so much more awesome than in Europe. Naww, they can keep their relevancy in the world stage. We are good over here living in the "stone age".