I can understand the need for algorithms, if you're on Facebook and have, say, a hundred friends, you're already talking about a firehose of content you couldn't possible follow even if you quit your job and devoted yourself full-time to it. Some filtering needs to be done (I was on FB for an embarrassingly long time before I figured out this was even happening and that I was seeing 1% of what my friends posted.) And requiring it be done fairly seems like a legitimate demand (although it can also seem like the ultimate in First-World Problems when compared with climate change and about a dozen other real, life-and-death challenges we face.)
And isn't this the same problem faced by any search engine? Who decides which results get put on the first page (and when was the last time you ever looked past the first page - or even the first two links - in a search?) And yet it seems like search engine algorithms haven't attracted quite the anger that social media algorithms have inspired. Why is this? Does Google's experience suggest there is actually a "neutral" algorithm that could be acceptable to most, if not all?
I love your writing but I've never listened to your podcast. I'm a reader more than an A/V guy. So I don't know what your voice sounds like. As a stand in, I read your work in the voice of Zak from Ghost Adventures.
But there is a going back. From the algorithms that is. It's called Mastodon and the Fediverse and it'd be a better place if you'd get your butt over there JYS.
I can understand the need for algorithms, if you're on Facebook and have, say, a hundred friends, you're already talking about a firehose of content you couldn't possible follow even if you quit your job and devoted yourself full-time to it. Some filtering needs to be done (I was on FB for an embarrassingly long time before I figured out this was even happening and that I was seeing 1% of what my friends posted.) And requiring it be done fairly seems like a legitimate demand (although it can also seem like the ultimate in First-World Problems when compared with climate change and about a dozen other real, life-and-death challenges we face.)
And isn't this the same problem faced by any search engine? Who decides which results get put on the first page (and when was the last time you ever looked past the first page - or even the first two links - in a search?) And yet it seems like search engine algorithms haven't attracted quite the anger that social media algorithms have inspired. Why is this? Does Google's experience suggest there is actually a "neutral" algorithm that could be acceptable to most, if not all?
I love your writing but I've never listened to your podcast. I'm a reader more than an A/V guy. So I don't know what your voice sounds like. As a stand in, I read your work in the voice of Zak from Ghost Adventures.
But there is a going back. From the algorithms that is. It's called Mastodon and the Fediverse and it'd be a better place if you'd get your butt over there JYS.