IT’s an unsolvable problem: there is not some magical equilibrium in the middle that will make this work. IT’s about finding a balance.
“There is No Algorithm for Truth – with Tom Scott” [18:00 – 18:15] (see also https://www.tomscott.com )
That quote comes from a presentation (apparently given in September 2019) — and the “IT” being referred to is (more or less): THE Algorithm” … specifically (here, in the quoted instance) the YouTube algorithm … which was being discussed a lot at that time.
So what has happened in the meantime? (LOL 😉 ) SURPRIZE!!! We are now talking about other topics.
Except: We’re not.
Today I want to address what has NOT changed.
IT’s context. Well over a decade ago, I made a little funny — I said: “If content is king, then context is queen — and she wears the pants!” Today, that funny statement might be taken a little off-color, much like me maintaining that my pronoun is “Boss“. 😛 But it’s not so concrete, it’s simply a metaphor for what goes on in (most) people’s brains, leading to (most) people’s behaviors.
The algorithms for YouTube and TikTok differ. The Google algorithm is also different. The Amazon algorithm is also different, too. If there were only one algorithm, we might still all be asking the Oracle at Delphi for answers. We don’t, because sometimes we want a hotel, sometimes we want a car, or a song, or a story, or a movie, or a restaurant, or a delivery service, … and ultimately we will always want something completely different.
Context matters — and not a little, but a lot. If I ask for X, then Y and / or Z are out of the question.
If we all were still consulting the Oracle at Delphi, we would probably be lost. If we all continue to spend more time on YouTube or TikTok or Wikipedia or whatever (one fixed source of information) then we will all probably continue to get lost.
In order for lost people to get found, I long ago came up with some ideas. One good place to find a start (in order to ultimately find a better [or even the best] ) answer is “Introduction to Rational Media: Content vs. Container” [ https://contextual.news.blog/2020/04/22/introduction-to-rational-media-content-vs-container ].
Socio Business blog 