alt Hacker NewsI like reading, and I read a lot. Still, I don't think it's right that a public service encourages reading. People must be free to do what they want in their free time, and this gamification stuff smells of imposing values and habits.
I'm against this idea of indoctrination of the population by a public entity, no matter which is the habit. I'm also against private companies doing this, which governments should focus on regulating instead of copying them.
If reading books is valuable, just as I think it is, people will find its value by trying.
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You're also against public education, I guess? Kids should just figure out what's valuable and do that without having values and habits imposed on them.
> If reading books is valuable, just as I think it is, people will find its value by trying.
Eating healthy and exercising are both valuable, no one disputes that, and yet we’re not all doing both those things on the regular. Even those who tried it.
Books, like healthy eating, compete with massive industries who spend enormous amounts of money and resources to get you to do something else.
I’m not at all advocating for forcing people to read, but let’s please not be naive that everyone will simply do what’s best for themselves on their own.
People are free to do what they want in their free time, including the freedom to decide which incentive structures they follow. Having incentives to read just... sounds like a good thing to me.