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Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

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Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#131

Post by bryant »

tom_usher wrote: post #33
lolinder wrote: post #19

The author sort of (but not really) acknowledges this midway through, but this is basically a summary of the most recent Technology Connections video, Algorithms are breaking how we think : https://youtu.be/QEJpZjg8GuA I'd rather they acknowledge Alec as the inspiration/source for this post at the beginning and explicitly, rather than just mentioning the video in passing midway through, but at least they do link to i…

I was definitely influenced to write this by Alec's excellent video which I recommend everyone watch. I'd hoped it would be a way to share my own opinions on it, summarise my own personal concerns, as well as adding my own recommendations - but totally appreciate if you feel it is derivative, and I appreciate the call out. As a big Technology Connections fan I certainly don't intend to steal his work. It's also inten…

Can you just link the video at the very top and indicate in the first paragraph that you were directly inspired by the video? It's only fair.

Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#133

Post by lezojeda »

williamtrask wrote: post #18
svara wrote: post #13

Social media has really proven that phrase that "the medium is the message", which I remember long ago thinking was a little odd and not obviously true. With all the new stuff coming out in the LLM field, I've taken a cynically mechanistic view to this: We're basically being conditioned by (the currently popular crop of) social media to work in very short context windows, which aren't sufficient for advanced reasonin…

> So yes, totally. Turn it off and go read a book. For what its worth, 500 years ago people were just as worried about books as we are today about newsfeeds. But it took a long time for books to ultimately decentralize enough to become a more egalitarian, community knowledge. But even that's not entirely the case now. Books can be propaganda just like everything else.

[dead]

Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#134

Post by ddq »

gavmor wrote: post #23

Glad to see Bluesky mentioned. I look forward to trading custom feed algorithms like Pokémon: https://stronglytyped.uk/articles/bluesky-firehose-meet-hack...

Unfortunately, the Bluesky Discover feed is utterly garbage, seemingly insistent on pushing political content, especially of the resistlib variety, no matter how many times I give "not interested" feedback. It's essentially the mirror version of the twitter For You algorithm; less overtly heinous but still a deeply unhealthy engagement trap. You definitely have to use custom feeds and the other features, but the most prominent and easiest point of entry for new users is a drip feed of ragebait.

Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#135

Post by zippyman55 »

I collected all my URLs I visited and organized them into a few groups: daily, weekly, monthly. Then sent that to a LLM requesting creation of files for generating bookmark tabs for my browser. After import, I have a well organized personal data feed to cycle thru in an efficient manner. I review daily material once; weekly periodically. This helps me limit excessive scrolling.

Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#136

Post by atrus »

latexr wrote: post #103
nerevarthelame wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alec also cited this video as at least a partial motivator for his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNOol5OTasw It focuses on the harmful nature of infinitely scrolling content. Cutting out all infinite scrolling apps has had a hugely positive effect on my productivity and mental health.

How does HN fit into that? I’m not trying to be cheeky, I’m genuinely interested, HN is technically an infinite website (though you do have to click “More”) yet you’re here. Do you use the noprocrast settings? Does HN just fit differently into your brain? Something else?

There's a bit of a mental difference between being able to (literally) endlessly swipe up to the next tiktok vs having to click the next button on hn though.

Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#139

Post by luqtas »

visarga wrote: post #100
jxjnskkzxxhx wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because before people had a concern and were wrong, doesn't mean if we have the same concern now we'll be wrong again.

I think the opposite, just like we used to tell people to "go read a book", now we'll tell people to "spend some time with an AI" to get cultured. The more AI time the better for your education.

it's cheaper (2025) and more reliable to recommend someone surf Wikipedia than "getting cultered with AI"

Re: Kill your Feeds – Stop letting algorithms dictate what you think

#140

Post by ndm000 »

ddq wrote: post #105
svara wrote: post #13

Social media has really proven that phrase that "the medium is the message", which I remember long ago thinking was a little odd and not obviously true. With all the new stuff coming out in the LLM field, I've taken a cynically mechanistic view to this: We're basically being conditioned by (the currently popular crop of) social media to work in very short context windows, which aren't sufficient for advanced reasonin…

I highly recommend reading Marshal McLuhan's book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man from which that phrase originates (and not just a Wikipedia summary, different medium after all!)

There is a comment in the intro of that book about the pinnacle of human labor being the simulation of consciousness. Very prescient for being written in the 60s.
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