Some thoughts concerning the documentary The social dilemma streaming on Netflix.

While providing a comprehensive litany of what is (maybe) wrong with social media, the arguments and discussions often left me unsatisfied.

For example someone suggests that maybe this is not a new phenomenon, and the same type of dislocation has happened in the past with radio or television. As a counterpoint is provided the opinion that the exponential growth af computation makes the addition of algorithms to our daily life something completely new. I do not find this to be a satisfying argument. The evolution of technology has sped up constantly in the past and this has often been decried. Probably what is new is that these days the technology changes completely over times shorter than one generation. Also there are other relevant timescales which have become critically short, in particular those related to the transmission of information.

There was also a segment about Pizza-gate which I found unclear. Someone was complaining that recommendation algorithms proposed pizza-gate related content to flat-earthers (and other conspiracy believers). But were they talking about some conspiracy of Google and Facebook? Or have the algorithms discovered the fact that believing in one conspiracy is believing in all? I would say that the algorithms have learned what makes stupid people.

I learned a new term from this movie: the technologists. Are they up there with the masons and the jews?

In general most problems I do find important were discussed, albeit imperfectly. One was the observation that maybe the problem is actually with our society. Before complaining about GoogleAppleFacebookAmazon we all should agree What is truth and even if Is there a truth? (two very different questions). Also outlawing the markets, as someone proposes, seems to me just inflammatory talk. But I am a strong proponent of carefully regulating all corporations.

I liked the term “amplified exponential gossip”. Good to remember techno-babble. Also, completely unrelated, I found another proof that all western students learn in high-school how to roll a pen on their fingers.