Belligerent Savant » Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:25 am wrote:.
We shall find out the parameters soon enough.
For example, wonder what he means by "
authenticating all humans", in this quoted bit:
All that aside, pause for a moment and consider how divorced from stability our society has become, whereby a significant portion of the populace -- if we're to believe the reactions on social media and elsewhere at face value; we'd have to assume a portion of it is pandering/theatrics/exaggeration -- are losing their minds over the prospect of a more "open"/democratic platform (however genuine this claim turns out to be).
Many factors involved in these escalations. More pervasive conditioning via social media and related platforms is part of it. I wonder how much of this is tied to metaphysical/occult/astrological aspects: the dawn of a new era. With each passing year I give more credence to esoteric theories.
It appears, at least from currently available information, that those in positions of power/influence are taking overt/forceful measures to push society into a new paradigm. But how much of this is inevitable, regardless, and to what extent do we have a window of opportunity to take (at least some) ownership of what it may become in the years ahead? Much will depend on how many remain entranced.
It's gonna be fun to watch this unfold, but he doesn't seem to have a fucking clue what he's talking about (classic engineer mindset: I'm good at rockets and EVs, ergo I'm good at social media). He wants to open source the algorithm
and defeat spam bots.
Open sourcing the algorithm is the greatest gift he can give to the spammers. That way they know exactly how the system works and how they can game it.
He should just remove the algorithm altogether. Let people see a chronological view of what people they follow posted. Right now, if I post something sensible no one will see it, because it doesn't create engagement. If I post something incendiary it jumps to the top of people's feed. They then react in outrage, which also creates engagement, so their replies are promoted. It's a race to the bottom.
Someone pointed out another thing about having an algorithmic feed that values engagement compared to a chronological feed: with a chronological feed you can start at the top and read down until you get to the ones you read yesterday. Having done that you're caught up for the day and don't return until tomorrow, meaning less engagement and (gasp!) less shareholder value.
Problem is Musk borrowed a ton of money to get the deal, so profits (engagement) will be the top priority.
Another thing (courtesy of techdirt): Twitter isn't the town square; the Internet is the town square. Twitter is just a very prominent building on that square, but there's tons of other buildings too.
Hopefully Musk fucks it up completely and Twitter goes the way of Myspace. He can bring a copy of the code to Mars and run it on the intranet and annoy the other Martians. Flamewars are always good in closed, fragile environments. It creates engagement (I know would watch the hell out of a civil war on Mars).
"I only read American. I want my fantasy pure." - Dave
