I’m reading a book called Stolen Focus by Johann Hari - and the chapter I read today talks about incentives and social media and how the creators of social media have all sorts of meditation and mindfulness tools/programs for their employees who create platforms that are based on getting more eyes on and more clicks which robs the user of focus. And all because of the incentives - the companies make more money from more time spent on the scrolling - as opposed to incentives towards luring the user to a more fulfilling life. The incentives for a more existentially relevant society will have to coincide with the incentives of social media platforms to be successful - because that’s who is directing our attention right now. None of this is new to you as that’s a part of the start up business acumen, but for most of America, I suspect the nuances are hidden and they believe they are exercising free choice rather than aligning with a company’s incentives.
It's an interesting irony when the maker of something avoids using the thing they're making.
I love "incentives towards luring the user to a more fulfilling life" - it's a concise summary of what all organizations and individuals should be incentivized to help others do. Your suspicion is a correct one that many users of today's platforms do not appreciate how AI influences their experience. This March 2022 survey (https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/03/17/how-americans-think-about-artificial-intelligence/) of American's view on AI shows general uncertainty mixed with concern.
We're still stumbling through the early days of the internet. Some people will undoubtedly look back at certain applications such as today's "social media" and call them mistakes. While the line between a mistake and an experiment is a fine one, as long as we learn from today's applications to create more meaningful ones, then we can chalk them up to experiments :).
I’m reading a book called Stolen Focus by Johann Hari - and the chapter I read today talks about incentives and social media and how the creators of social media have all sorts of meditation and mindfulness tools/programs for their employees who create platforms that are based on getting more eyes on and more clicks which robs the user of focus. And all because of the incentives - the companies make more money from more time spent on the scrolling - as opposed to incentives towards luring the user to a more fulfilling life. The incentives for a more existentially relevant society will have to coincide with the incentives of social media platforms to be successful - because that’s who is directing our attention right now. None of this is new to you as that’s a part of the start up business acumen, but for most of America, I suspect the nuances are hidden and they believe they are exercising free choice rather than aligning with a company’s incentives.
It's an interesting irony when the maker of something avoids using the thing they're making.
I love "incentives towards luring the user to a more fulfilling life" - it's a concise summary of what all organizations and individuals should be incentivized to help others do. Your suspicion is a correct one that many users of today's platforms do not appreciate how AI influences their experience. This March 2022 survey (https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/03/17/how-americans-think-about-artificial-intelligence/) of American's view on AI shows general uncertainty mixed with concern.
We're still stumbling through the early days of the internet. Some people will undoubtedly look back at certain applications such as today's "social media" and call them mistakes. While the line between a mistake and an experiment is a fine one, as long as we learn from today's applications to create more meaningful ones, then we can chalk them up to experiments :).