My Experience With Algorithm Extremism:

So, most of us have been through this. I needed to buy a rug, so, I searched a few websites, and purchased what I needed. Now over a week later, I'm still getting ads for rugs. You bought a rug, DON'T YOU WANT A DOZEN MORE!

This is mostly an annoyance, an Algorithm missing it's mark, but what if this also applied to ideas? Let me tell you another story:

If you follow me, you probably already know I'm a pretty ardent feminist. Occasionally, I will peruse other websites, and social media (not X, ffs get off X) that use Algorithms. I had liked a few feminist posts, so the Algorithm said she likes these let's give her more, which was nice, at first. I started noticing they were getting more extreme, less women deserve equality, and moving more into Fuck all men, I hope they die, territory. Not a fan of that, but I figured it's a one off no big deal. Within a few days it had moved into full TERF territory. It took several weeks of me aggressively blocking and reporting every post I saw for it to disappear from my Timeline.

Now imagine if you're a young man who searches or asks on social media, Why won't women date me?, think about how quickly they could get pulled into a world of lies and extremism. Imagine asking any question about a group of marginalized people. This is why places like Mastodon will become more and more essential, and why teaching children critical thinking skills is paramount.

When the system is broken, try to fix it.

When the system is working as intended, be part of the problem, not the solution.

Between a16z pushing their crypto agenda and Elon out for revenge, I’d wager the SEC will be the first agency gutted next year.

Without a functioning SEC, there’s a straight line between unregulated crypto and your parents gambling away their life savings, like 2008 all over again.

Just in case you’re wondering why Bitcoin hit a new all time high.