What I mean is that it's become a major part of the US's economy. Globally, this industry probably generates 100s of billions of dollars, and those companies mostly spend their revenue on more software, more hardware, more research, more computer scientists, more computer engineers, etc. Indirectly, probably almost all of us here are partially paid from the ad-network-value-chain. And, what about all of the open source products that have been funded by these companies.
I have been blocking advertising on my computers and phones for close to a decade now. I am ad-free. And yet the bubble persists. This industry is beyond mere logic.
How is this a bubble? Unlike previous bubbles, the current technology surge is actually funded by real value, real demand, real revenues, and gigantic profits.
"Bubble" may be wishful thinking, but can you really argue that it's not "labor mis-allocation?"
"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks."
By intentionally sewing economic irrationality (ie beyond how irrational humans are already), advertising destroys societal value. Here I use "irrational" in the sense of "making self-harming economic decisions."
