Here is a good essay that might help, as the problem is not about censorship than promotion. The Internet is no longer an agnostic platform, as content and ideas are selected and promoted above others by the companies running the new platforms. The issue is their responsibility for what they promote.
I agree on the promotional point - and - would also be great if algos somehow surfaced more creative music, writers etc instead of the most banal / what the crowd likes. Somehow this all gets us away from the internet's original space as a place for weird and cool creatives and more to mainstream / averages, which is so much less interesting. Maybe they could surface actually intelligent discourse from all political sides similarly instead of the crass things they do now. Kind of a similar story I think.
The internet is like life. You can ring fence communities and areas but there are people who want to be feral, the wilderness is for them.
Blaming the platforms is easy BUT we don’t need to use them. If we must regulate, we should require easily understood disclosure of how they use data and monetize attention. Then its buyer beware. AND if the whole world wants to go full retard, that’s the wisdom of the crowd in action. 🙃
Here is a good essay that might help, as the problem is not about censorship than promotion. The Internet is no longer an agnostic platform, as content and ideas are selected and promoted above others by the companies running the new platforms. The issue is their responsibility for what they promote.
https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-is-not-the-same-as-free-reach/
I agree on the promotional point - and - would also be great if algos somehow surfaced more creative music, writers etc instead of the most banal / what the crowd likes. Somehow this all gets us away from the internet's original space as a place for weird and cool creatives and more to mainstream / averages, which is so much less interesting. Maybe they could surface actually intelligent discourse from all political sides similarly instead of the crass things they do now. Kind of a similar story I think.
The internet is like life. You can ring fence communities and areas but there are people who want to be feral, the wilderness is for them.
Blaming the platforms is easy BUT we don’t need to use them. If we must regulate, we should require easily understood disclosure of how they use data and monetize attention. Then its buyer beware. AND if the whole world wants to go full retard, that’s the wisdom of the crowd in action. 🙃
Great insight. I needed this.
Wonderful screed Adam.
The note quote caught my eye. The opening with one of my fave Taleb quotes grabbed my by the throat. Loved the prose and the unabashed confrontation.
The internet is at its best as an atom smasher, with predictable (inoffensive) and unpredictable (offensive) particles thrown off.