Optimism vs Optimization
For data geeks like myself, there are few things simpler in the world of algorithms (I guess we could call it AI for sexiness) than someone with a pile of data points asking us to maximize one of them. Tease out some correlations and keep feeding the algorithm. It doesn’t really matter much what it is that you’re optimizing, as long as you have enough data to tease out what leads some to do that thing, you can maximize the causal variable. So how about a simple, straight-forward, hardly-ethically-challenging proposition like this: print media (and other media for that matter) is dying and advertisers are headed for the exists, can you optimize clicks?
(Note, this isn’t what I do in my day job, but data is data.)
Maybe ten years ago or more, they fell on something that seemed to boost clicks: Cats and kittens. You think I’m joking? Where did all the cat gifs go? That was pretty good and people followed cute cat gifs for a while until the algorithm found a far better correlation to clicks: anger, fear and disgust. Today, many news outlets farm out their headline creation to bots that use these algorithms, and the news aggregators on your phone and browser serve up just the articles that will trigger these emotions. Please understand: this is not a left/right, Fox News/CNN, Dem/Rep thing, it is a simple mathematical algorithm.
So maybe the Skynet of the Terminator movies isn’t yet building man destroying robots, but we have built bots that are doing a great job of destroying ourselves and our communities already. Humans aren’t built to be in a constant state of anger, fear and disgust. We need to enjoy awesome moments with our families, watch our pandemic puppies be goofy and help our F3 brothers overcome life struggles. That is what makes the gloom a force for Good.
That is also why I have optimism. Every man I’ve reached out to in the face of recent division has acknowledge how special F3 is and their desire to not let it be destroyed. The gloom is the one place the algorithms can’t throw banner ads at you, they can’t scroll an angry headline across the gym television at you out in the park. It’s not humans versus machines. It’s just you against you, with your F3 brothers by your side.
It is time to fortify ourselves against the divisiveness. It will only get more ridiculous as we approach the November elections. Just remember the next time you see a headline, that a machine probably wrote it, and it has just one aim: to make you (specifically, you) angry. We are stronger than that. And if you aren’t strong enough yet, reach out to your brothers in the gloom and we will help you to be strong. Our community needs us to be calm, happy and dare I say optimistic! We will boldly go forward with love.
#F3Fortify
Graham Smith | 37 | Vila
(PS: Sorry for the click-bait headline. It worked, though, right?)