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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

#281

Post by petepete »

Xiol32 wrote: post #65
hooverd wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technology connections is great. I've never been more excited to listen to a man talk about dishwashers for 20 minutes.

Still can't find powder where I am. It's all tabs. I need that prewash, dammit!

In the UK the only supermarket I can find that sells powder (after trying lots) is Sainsbury's.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-conce...

I asked in Tesco and the young lad who worked there (probably 18-19) had never heard of it.

I still dispense it from a Finish powder bottle I've had for more than a decade.

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

#282

Post by chipsrafferty »

karmakaze wrote: post #227
jasode wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>by Alec's excellent video which I recommend everyone watch. I get what your advice is about but to add some nuance which didn't cover... you should consider that I learned of Alec's Technology Connections channel 9 years ago because the Youtube algorithm suggested it to me . Why did Youtube do that? It was because I had watched Ben's Applied Science excellent video showing vinyl grooves under an electron microscope:…

I started using Youtube as a frequent content source in the past year. I've been aggressively curating my recommendations by clicking "Not interested" on anything I don't want to see a lot of. If I'm curious I'll watch the one video but in Incognito. If a channel gets repeatedly re-recommended I don't hesitate to use "Don't recommend channel". I also +like everything I've watched and subscribe to channels I'll more l…

Unfortunately, it doesn't really work like that. If you say "Don't recommend channel", the channel may in fact be recommended and similar channels will definitely still be recommended. "Not interested" works even less accurately.

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

#283

Post by jbhoot »

lawn wrote: post #54
svara wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Books can be terrible, but they can be good to a level that (most popular) social media can't, due to the limitations of the medium. Without long text, to a good approximation, you just can't convey long, multi-step reasoning chains at the limit of human intellectual capacity. Personally I've started reading again much more recently, and it's done wonders for what's going on inside my head. I was feeling so dull! I c…

It's also common to think that you should only read non-fiction and that fiction is a waste of time, but I absolutely don't agree. Fiction is amazing and it'll help your reasoning, creativity, helps give perspective on things, and improves your outlook on life in a way that non-fiction has a very hard time to do. Non-fiction is very good for other reasons and it's good to aim for a healthy mix of the too I think.

Yes! This so much! In my circles, I have seen a tendency to perceive fiction as a kind of low-brow, less intellectual reading. But then these people go on and pick up self-help non-fiction books.

Fiction has so much more to offer! On top of what you wrote, fiction helps you to develop an ability to put yourself in others' shoes. Empathy is anyway scarce in this politically-charged and ragebait-filled world.

Fiction has helped me develop empathy and to stay empathetic. It has helped me develop my philosophy of life; morals and values I strive to stay close to. The fictional characters have given me courage during hard times. And so much more.

Lot of people prefer to start with self-help kind of non-fiction which is, IMO, the least helpful category of books. I don't know what draw people to it.

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

#284

Post by __rito__ »

I have two thumb rules about social media scrolling:

1. Use social media at only one particular time of the day. Inside a strict time window. That's it. Even if you are sitting idly on a car, traveling, or even standing in a queue for something, don't open the scroller app. Just be. Even if you are sick and in bed, don't open the scroller. Make a conversation, read a book, watch a movie, listen to a talk, but never open the scroller. This I learned from Cal Newport, and at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I will say this has made my life better. And if you do this for some months, you will like the changes in your brain.

2. Don't consume any content without premeditated intent. Don't aimlessly scroll, ever. This point is there in the OP. I scroll a particular FB group only for ~10 ninutes a day. I scroll my very narrow CS/Math/Programming YouTube account for ~15 minutes and add videos to Watch Later. That's it.

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

#285

Post by pharrington »

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.

the phrase you're looking for is touch grass

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

#286

Post by fmajid »

The real issue is control. Facebook allowed you to go back to chronological view by appending &sk=chr to the URL, but they removed that safety valve at some point. Depending on context you may want to sort your feed chronologically, by relevance (which requires training or AI), or more exotic ways, but none of the platforms will give you that modicum of agency.

You also need filtering to remove the manufactured pop-culture dross like the Kardashians that is the new opium of the people.

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

#288

Post by pastage »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #238
tehjoker wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good, they should sprinkle socialist values in. what's the other option, passive acceptance of capitalist exploitation? people need to be educated.

You may want to do some basic background reading on what socialism actually is. People in the US tend to think it refers to things that are actually mixed economies or primarily market economies with strong social guarantees. Think things like the Nordic model or the European model. Mixed economies with social welfare guarantees are mainstream economics. Actual socialism in the style practiced in reality by countries…

> version of socialism embraced by China and promoted on TikTok is fully authoritarian, anti-democratic, and does nothing to improve economic equality in the US

This oversells what China is. China is were government and oligarchy are in a strange symbiosis. Capitalism is worse in China in many ways. You are more free in China to exploit others on a large scale. H1B Visas seems to be an authorian idea to me and something that is heavily exploited in China.

What the US and China have in common is a strange kind of nationalism that I can not define, might be because I come from a smaller country.

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

#289

Post by lawn »

epoxia wrote: post #201
lawn wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also common to think that you should only read non-fiction and that fiction is a waste of time, but I absolutely don't agree. Fiction is amazing and it'll help your reasoning, creativity, helps give perspective on things, and improves your outlook on life in a way that non-fiction has a very hard time to do. Non-fiction is very good for other reasons and it's good to aim for a healthy mix of the too I think.

I agree, but struggle to find fiction books to read. Most of my reading just consists of a historical period / event that I find interesting and read more about. From that I sometimes come across an "alternate history" type fiction book, but not much else. What do you do for discovery?

I'm currently in a big fantasy phase so what I've done is search for "best fantasy series", "most underrated fantasy series", gone through r/fantasy, and "books similar to X" type of searches.

I've also listened to some YouTube channels who review or go through books they've read. Of course it's important to find someone who have similar taste to you or you'll have a bad time.

On the point of "alternate history" I'll throw out "Matt's fantasy Book Reviews" YouTube channel where he also has some alternate history type books he brings up from time to time.

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

#290

Post by casey2 »

If you compare posts to food then a post with many likes is like hyperpalatable food, and a post with many likes that shows up in your feed is like a hyperpalatable food that the algorithm thinks you will like. Nothing wrong with the algorithm, it's the post that's the problem

The solution is very simple, just limit the like count of posts in your feed.

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