As a computer scientist, I can confirm that machine learning is a thing and most (if not all, not currently finished with my degree but close to), if not all, of this video is valid and is a valid concern for me as a developer.
I sort of feel a bit bad for the algorithm trying to figure me out, I go from bingeing Shane Dawson to WWE to kpop to Sidemen. I mean last night i Googled animal documentary, because I wanted to watch something while sewing and I ended up watch a documentary about furries. I dread to think what's going to start popping up in my recommendeds
This right here is the exact reason I took to this branding and worked hard to be more of a positive person, online and otherwise. Thank you for making this, Luke
Literally just got recommended 'Being Ugly: My Experience' and something about having a babyface as a teenager so yeah, definitely exploiting insecurities lol
This is amazing Luke. I so agree with everything you said. I always think of it that is something is "free", its because YOU'RE the product, not the consumer. For these social media companies, we are the product, using our data and profiles to sell to make money through targeted advertising. Its a bizarre twist of roles: we believe we're using the website like a service as a consumer, but I would argue it's very much the other way around - they're using *us* like a service, to train their computer systems and to gain our data. In some ways I think the business model is flawed. I would be very intrigued if a new company was to try making social media that you actually had to pay money to use e.g a subscription service or a one-time free (therefore making a cash flow for the company), but the website had no ads or machine learning manipulation that causes this huge issue in society. Thanks for talking about this Luke!
Ok this is kind of unrelated but this video made me so amazed at how the animation community is doing so well. Maybe the algorithm has learned that shorter videos that get more attention and are captivating are potentially better than clickbaity long videos that don’t keep as much attention. I personally really miss the shorter videos because I get bored easily but then a really long video posted by my favorite creator pops up and I decide to watch it because I want that video and that content to do well. BUT I get distracted by the drop of a hat and want to go watch something else really quickly. I think I may have a chance of having ADD or something idk. Woooow I feel like I proved my point with the distracted ness of this comment haha
RU-vid once recommended me a snuff film. No idea why. I've obviously never watched anything to do with it so I have no clue why it came up or why it had be monetized in the first place. Anyway fast forward a year or two and my friend got an ad containing related material. Other than that and a few other mishaps makes me understand that social media is indeed a dark and scary place but does also indeed show a educating and insightful side as well. Especially from the likes of people like Tom Scott and Luke.
I love these videos that make me think and teaches me stuff, they make me feel like my RU-vid trip was worthwhile xx also loving the background xx you always teach us new things in an inspiring understanding way and always make me think about the topic in a new way xx
This is such a different style of video i was actually trying to figure out whos video this was cos it was queued. Love this move to a wider range of content that seems to be more engaging to luke which follows that we the consumer are more engaged
See people freak out about this kind of stuff but stores do it already in the real world. I got a retail job about 7 months ago (I’m still a teen in high school without any real say in what happens in the store) and I’ve seen it go through tons of changes. Some of which lowered the likelihood of someone purchasing an item (which was quickly undone) and others that exploded the number of items bought (which obviously stayed as it was). We didn’t track individual people, but we could tell just from our sales records what was working and adjusted our floor layout and shelving set up accordingly. I guess I just don’t really understand why people freak out about this so much. It’s the logical step to take in an online marketing business. EDIT: okay so I’ve been thinking more and I get why people freak, but at the same time, we’re also kinda willing ourselves to get almost addicted to these feeds? I don’t know how to phrase it. Like... we are all aware of what these algorithms do. Even child RU-vid channels talk about the algorithm. We all know RU-vid and Instagram and Facebook track our clicks and likes and alter the posts we see based on it. We’re aware and yet we still blame it. Maybe a harsh comparison, but it’s like educating yourself on how addictive cigarettes are and then blaming the company for putting nicotine in it. It’s also on us the viewers to limit ourselves and realize when our behaviour becomes unhealthy and do something about it ANOTHER EDIT: I’ve watched more and I agree with Luke that companies should be transparent when promoting images. They should have open, free, readily available disclaimers about how your photos or videos or name or whatever are/could be used and have options to turn them off. However, that’s all an issue of terms and conditions which is a whole other rant I’ve got lol FINAL EDIT I SWEAR: Wow Luke hit the nail on the head lol. I should really start waiting before commenting.
An alternative to just logging off a website that's not pleasing to you is to drop off the grid completely, stay away from any electronic devices and move into the abandoned subway tunnels beneath a major city.
When you're realising you're training the computer by watching this video and this video was given to me by the computer because it makes me happy agh 🤯
This is an excellent and important video, thanks for making it! I rarely comment on RU-vid videos, but I thought I'd do my bit towards training RU-vid into promoting this video and videos like it. (In the voice of Nigel Thornberry) - Smashing!
Well ye there is things like the Instagram explore page , where it takes notes of what you like who you follow who they follow what you stay on longer and make a whole page of things you would want to look at as well as recommending accounts to follow , it's the same with things like Pinterest
Thanks for the insightful video. I think whats interesting, and perhaps a sign not to worry too much, is that this cycle is nothing new. This idea that we give something in return for something that pleases us and the industries adapt around that idea is just basic supply and demand which of-course isn't just computer-based. The big difference is that instead of money its based around currencies like time, likes, votes, shares, ect.
My mind is blown. You kind of lost me part way through because I'm a simple easily confused human bean but I'm just now like what. I feel like I'm about to be killed by the robot nation.
I thought ladies in bikinis was the point of Instagram. I'm sure you've heard that apparently, thumbs down count for the same amount as thumbs up on RU-vid. It's all viewer interaction anyway.
You should have touched on websites that scroll infinitely like Facebook, Imgur etc. I notice on these it's a lot easier to get sucked in and scroll for a very long time just because it's easy.
Hey Luke, I saw your self harm video and honestly I wanted to say it's really helped me. Currently six days clean and really proud of myself tbh. I know it's not much, but baby steps, right? #cutcakenotwrists
Hiya Millie, I'm sorry this comment didn't get much traction. It's been six more days since that comment, and I hope that they've been six cut-free days! If not, I just want to let you know that that's ok. We all fall down in life, a lot. But there's this stupid wonderful crazy thing in our brain that makes us keep trying, and I hope that you'll keep trying to #cutcake . As this video shows, negative habits can make you feel like you have no control, that you're powerless. The fact is that we are in control and sometimes all it takes to break a habit is to put one hour in front of another without doing said habit. Keep it up.
yo u mentioned sumn about how evolution made us then we made technology to do evolution for us-- theres a podcast called cold case murder mysteries with ryan kraus that i think youd dig if youre particularly interested in that Concept that mans wild
