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In the belly of the MrBeast

kevinmunger.substack.com

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Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#211

Post by jamincan »

mrguyorama wrote: post #171
ryandrake wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so weird and obvious that shenanigans are going on in the recommendation algorithm. I'll watch a Video Game Streamer, and in the sidebar, the top ten recommended related videos are: - Same streamer, different video - Different streamer - Far right pundit blasts immigration - Video game streamer - Video game streamer - Video game review - Same streamer, similar content - Ben Shapiro OWNS Liberals with FACTS - Vid…

There is massive overlap between those who watch video game streamers and those who watch the right wing rage content. Youtube is recommending you the videos those other people who watch video game streams watched next.

Aren't a lot of video game streamers basically alt-right rage streamers now too?

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#212

Post by aiono »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #103
aiono wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the ideas of Baudrillard really accurate in describing some parts of modern life, but to be honest I feel like he just saying random stuff when I tried to read one of his book. It's so metaphorical and abstract it's very difficult to understand what exactly he is saying.

My best experience reading Baudrillard was out loud with a group. Some passages spoke to some but not others, but most generated discussion. Some are also obvious to us now in the TikTok age - uncannily so.

Definitely when I read his works even though I didn't understand some of his writings it made me think about it.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#213

Post by queuebert »

Invictus0 wrote: post #101

Breathless navel gazing. It's not that he's wrong, it's just that this article adds nothing new to the conversation other than excessively technical mumbo jumbo. Just read MrBeast's original document.

Ironically I think one huge contribution that YouTube has made for the good is elevating the quality of STEM didactics. Channels like 3blue1brown and Veritasium have shown what STEM instruction could look like when not relegated to tenured professors who DGAF about teaching.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#214

Post by coliveira »

Consider the following: my personal youtube feed has never shown a video of MrBeast. I never asked to remove it from my feed. I only know the he exists because I see it being debated in the media. So, this tells me more about what people in general are interested in and click to watch, than about the nature of youtube itself.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#215

Post by NAHWheatCracker »

OJFord wrote: post #116
NAHWheatCracker wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what you describe is what infecto was saying. You can't use YouTube to find interesting content anymore. You can only use it to find more of what you've already seen. In the past, it was better at unearthing new things. Personally, I added uBlock filters so the home page is empty and recommended videos aren't shown. I only ever go to subscriptions now.

> I added uBlock filters so the home page is empty and recommended videos aren't shown. I only ever go to subscriptions now. There's a setting to turn it off, no need for uBlock filters for that

It's the hammer I have and it works on those nails, hah.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#216

Post by coliveira »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #191
hahamrfunnyguy wrote: post #113

I ran a YouTube channel seriously for a couple of years. Chasing the whims of the algorithm contributed to burnout and now I only release one or two videos a year. My reason for starting a channel was to have a discussion around some of the projects I was working on that I found interesting. This never materialized. I never had a ton of engagement, but if I did most questions asked by viewers that are answered in the…

Thank you for your story. I have been running a low traffic blog for decades now and there was a time when I craved engagement. I never put too much effort in but I did change the things I wrote about to try to get noticed, a strategy that was unmarred by success. The creators that find success need to pump out content at a ridiculous rate. It is a faustian bargain that sucks in a lot of people.

These people are essentially competing against an algorithm, not against other humans. I consider this to be an extremely distasteful endeavor.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#217

Post by andrewla »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #201

I was thrown off by the use of the word, "wordcel," which the author defines as almost the opposite of what I would expect it to mean. Just like "incel" is a portmanteau, I expect "wordcel" to mean "word celibate." It didn't fit the context. The word is linked to a longer article that has the author's definition buried in it, which just distracted more from this article.

I'm perhaps too online, but this is not the author's coining. There was discourse ages ago about how some people are "shape rotators" -- that is, they could reason about complex stuff in their heads, and their counterparts, the "wordcels", that could express ideas through writing. The latter admittedly does not make sense as a portmanteau, likely because a shape rotator came up with it.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#218

Post by RajT88 »

geodel wrote: post #199
llamaimperative wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t find it that interesting because it’s obviously a consequence of our information environment. We have constructed algorithmic outrage machines and deferred thought and curation to them. It’s far more interesting to me how one side of the political spectrum was so totally swallowed by this system, to the extent that literally every single news story is received with outlandish conspiracy theorizing from rather…

> but it is very obviously the case they are not. It not obvious and also doesn't seem true at all. Still one may continue to investigate with this assumption but then result will neither be truth or much useful.

I would agree it's not obvious - but also if you don't think it's true, I'd love to hear why you think that. If you have numbers, even better.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#219

Post by _DeadFred_ »

prpl wrote: post #130
Salgat wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people confused like me on what intensification means, it means maximizing the amount of attention and interaction that occurs. On Youtube this would be the metrics that drive engagement, including views, likes, comments, shares, and watch time. The issue is that the content focuses on driving engagement at the expense of communicating ideas with coherence and depth, for example by sensationalizing or oversimplif…

You see this a lot in strange ways these days. Rage bait, feigned ignorance, and things like that. It’s anti-quality and it’s just as effective (if not more) than quality content.

What was the Twitter joke. 'If I want an answer to a programming question, I post the question, and then an incorrect response from a different account.' No ones posting to help, but a lot will post to smugly correct the wrong answer.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#220

Post by andrewla »

cedws wrote: post #138

I think MrBeast and other high end influencers like the Paul brothers are harmful to children. Kids see them flaunting their huge wealth and abandon all their other ambitions in favour of wanting to become a YouTuber. Which, now, is a very competitive platform few succeed on. Kids should be nudged towards working fruitful careers beneficial to society. Although MrBeast has done some good things with it, I find the wa…

In general I'm in agreement that they present a life where being an "influencer" is a goal in and of itself, but I think it's mostly harmless, like kids wanting to be a rock star or a professional athlete. These are unobtainable for most people but learning some music or sports or video production isn't a bad idea for anyone because you don't know where it will lead.

The specific criticism of "flaunting their huge wealth" does not apply at least to MrBeast -- he specifically is not very wealthy (I mean, he may be, but he says that he is not and he does not flaunt any such wealth; on the few occasions where his personal life is highlighted it seems he lives rather humbly). He claims to put all of the money he earns back into his videos; so when he makes enough to buy a "lambo" or whatever he will buy one and give it away to whoever can swallow the most toothpicks or whatever.

MrBeast does not push a life of luxury as his lifestyle, he presents a life of being a celebrity influencer whose life is making more spectacles.

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