power gem
Bronze
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2022
- Messages
- 109
- Reaction score
- 614
- Awards
- 69
i agree that the algorithm wants to keep us scrolling but i disagree that it does this by presenting us with inoffensive and likeable content. a generic post that is liked by the majority of viewers - a funny cat video, for example - doesn't generate that much engagement. there's nothing to say about it beyond "lol" or "cute" or whatever. the ultimate engagement bait is a highly controversial and polarizing topic that induces people to argue in the comments section for months on end. for example, a week or two ago i couldnt go on any social media site without reading some rando's hot take on a hobo being choked to death on a subway. the algorithm optimizes for controversy because controversy stimulates more comments and views. it also creates social division and discontent, but the algorithm doesn't care about that. lesswrong and ssc are lame but this is a relevant post i think.
If you just read a Scissor statement off a list, it's harmless. It just seems like a trivially true or trivially false thing. It doesn't activate until you start discussing it with somebody. At first you just think they're an imbecile. Then they call you an imbecile, and you want to defend yourself. Crescit eundo. You notice all the little ways they're lying to you and themselves and their audience every time they open their mouth to defend their imbecilic opinion. Then you notice how all the lies are connected, that in order to keep getting the little things like the Scissor statement wrong, they have to drag in everything else. Eventually even that doesn't work, they've just got to make everybody hate you so that nobody will even listen to your argument no matter how obviously true it is. Finally, they don't care about the Scissor statement anymore. They've just dug themselves so deep basing their whole existence around hating you and wanting you to fail that they can't walk it back. You've got to prove them wrong, not because you care about the Scissor statement either, but because otherwise they'll do anything to poison people against you, make it impossible for them to even understand the argument for why you deserve to exist. You know this is true. Your mind becomes a constant loop of arguments you can use to defend yourself, and rehearsals of arguments for why their attacks are cruel and unfair, and the one burning question: how can you thwart them?