I think there is way more human in this equation than the article suggests, but some valid points.
First off, the whole "selling narratives" thing has been with us a very long time. Anyone who watched reporting on race or crime or gun control 40 years ago could tell you that nothing has really changed in terms of narratives. The publishing industry, the movie industry, the news industry have all been pushing narratives for decades.
What you're seeing now is that the big tech companies have gotten to the second major generation of algorithms- instead of just optimizing for eyeballs and advertising effectiveness, they also optimize for narrative promotion- so clickbait that supports the chosen narrative of google will do way better than clickbait that pushes against the narrative.
It's really that simple. This is google/fb switching from being the advertising of the internet to becoming the yellow press of the internet. All this other stuff is people seeing patterns and not understanding how things work.
I think there is way more human in this equation than the article suggests, but some valid points.
First off, the whole "selling narratives" thing has been with us a very long time. Anyone who watched reporting on race or crime or gun control 40 years ago could tell you that nothing has really changed in terms of narratives. The publishing industry, the movie industry, the news industry have all been pushing narratives for decades.
What you're seeing now is that the big tech companies have gotten to the second major generation of algorithms- instead of just optimizing for eyeballs and advertising effectiveness, they also optimize for narrative promotion- so clickbait that supports the chosen narrative of google will do way better than clickbait that pushes against the narrative.
It's really that simple. This is google/fb switching from being the advertising of the internet to becoming the yellow press of the internet. All this other stuff is people seeing patterns and not understanding how things work.
Good points. Still, none of this stuff is constructive. WE (humanity) need to stop.