People vs Algorithms

Shifts in media distribution are changing society. I, like many, am concerned about the consequences. Our dialog was more civil and the country was easier to govern in before times. We will look back at the era of mass media nostalgically for sure. It feels like a fork in the road, either we find a set of rules to better govern this decentralized s... See more

When Facebook or Twitter intervenes in this process it gets very complex because platforms are meant to be neutral. Editorializing The Algorithm becomes a question of first amendment rights. This makes Section 230 the most complex and consequential legislation of our time.

...this is just a restatement of our favorite McLuhanism, "The medium is the message" suggesting that a distribution channel is more important than the content it carries. I would modify it slightly to "The medium and monetization are the message"

People ask questions on Google. "How do I make a dirty martini?", "What is the best electric car?", "Should I get vaccinated?". Google prioritizes links that answer these questions against a set of well developed rules. Those that rank typically do better serving the user. This too is The Algorithm. Hewing to the Google machine is called Search Eng... See more

Now anyone can publish, the gatekeepers have changed. Our new navigational mechanism is largely "on demand". The audience cherrypicks from an endless feed of stories shaped by people in their network. What shows up in that feed is governed by a set of rules because there's a vast amount of content to choose from now that everybody has the mic. We c... See more