This does indeed seem comically evil. While surely this may provide somewhat interesting insights in how our brain processes things, this seems squarely past the "should" part of "you scientists were so obsessed with whether you could you failed to consider whether you should"

I'd say we're already well past that point. Short-form "content" already exists and is messing with people's brains, this is the same thing just taken a few steps further. By the time the tech companies start using it, it will already be too late and we'll be left discussing whether the next man-made nightmare they come up with is the point where the tech industry must be stopped.

I share your concern but the generalization is improper (that as solution would be infinitely far worst than the problem)

One might even come to the conclusion that the Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

The problem is the incentive structure. We could be doing good things with tech. The incentive is to use it to addict and destroy. Addiction and war is where all the money is, not education or health care or positive forms of entertainment and art. No money in those. Why?

I’m sure there was an early hominid version of this discourse. “Maybe bad to make sharp rock and sharp stick if this what we do with it…” “Mmm yes someday we make sharp rock big enough smash world.”

I get that people see this and think: ads and social media. My first thought was cognitive neurorehabilitation and brain stimulation.

Realistically, probably ads, but maybe not only that?

(AI start-up idea: one of our ads a day keeps dementia away! /s)

You can't say things like this on this website. On here, every new tech thing is a "progress" /s