mrvolkomorov on Nostr: Evil by default I read the news about how social networks are required to disclose ...
Evil by default
I read the news about how social networks are required to disclose the principles of operation of recommendation services and algorithms, and once again I understand that algorithms are evil by default. And that's why.
The original old Internet happily escaped what old media called the gatekeeper. When an editor, government or corporation explicitly or implicitly imposes its point of view on the audience through censorship, editorial policies and other possible restrictions on topics and issues. Until algorithms appeared.
After the ideas of the second web, which was entirely about your own choice and the ability to assemble your own information field in a constructor, the algorithms at first were like “about the same, but better and faster.” Why do you need an RSS reader that you fill with subscriptions yourself, when Flipboard or another similar application will select articles according to your interests?
The user is lazy, he doesn’t have time, we’ll do it for him. So we actually returned “to TV”, where there is targeted advertising and everything else in exchange for our attention.
Governments in different countries say that if social networks provide access to how the algorithms are structured and allow them to be controlled, then everything seems to be ok. But algorithms are a kind of trade secret, since they are the secret to the success of social networks. This means that such information is unlikely to be available to the public. If it is available only to the state and corporations, it is unlikely that this will turn out to be anything good for users.
In general, any algorithm is an obvious manipulation of our attention. This is key and always worth remembering.
Manipulation is a way to construct for us a reality that does not exist. Even if we want it.
I read the news about how social networks are required to disclose the principles of operation of recommendation services and algorithms, and once again I understand that algorithms are evil by default. And that's why.
The original old Internet happily escaped what old media called the gatekeeper. When an editor, government or corporation explicitly or implicitly imposes its point of view on the audience through censorship, editorial policies and other possible restrictions on topics and issues. Until algorithms appeared.
After the ideas of the second web, which was entirely about your own choice and the ability to assemble your own information field in a constructor, the algorithms at first were like “about the same, but better and faster.” Why do you need an RSS reader that you fill with subscriptions yourself, when Flipboard or another similar application will select articles according to your interests?
The user is lazy, he doesn’t have time, we’ll do it for him. So we actually returned “to TV”, where there is targeted advertising and everything else in exchange for our attention.
Governments in different countries say that if social networks provide access to how the algorithms are structured and allow them to be controlled, then everything seems to be ok. But algorithms are a kind of trade secret, since they are the secret to the success of social networks. This means that such information is unlikely to be available to the public. If it is available only to the state and corporations, it is unlikely that this will turn out to be anything good for users.
In general, any algorithm is an obvious manipulation of our attention. This is key and always worth remembering.
Manipulation is a way to construct for us a reality that does not exist. Even if we want it.