An insightful TED talk from Eli Pariser discussing the dangerously subtle shift online (Facebook, Yahoo News, Google, etc) toward personalized web results. He’s essentially describing the automization of what theologians call incurvatus in se – a fancy way of referring to our inwardly curved nature, post-Fall. He touches on the differences between what we need to see vs. what we want to see, our aspirational vs. impulsive selves (Netflix!), information vegetables vs. information dessert, and how the trend toward personalization will likely counteract whatever . In essence, it will act as a catalyst for all our self-orientation, leaving us isolated or marginalized online. Pariser wisely advocates for algorithms that intentionally include results that may be outside our ideological (or contextual) comfort zones. Which, while obviously a mechanical answer to a very fleshy problem, can’t hurt. Watch the video – it’s only 10 minutes, ht BLS:
9 comments
Pingbacks/Trackbacks
A couple links « A Pastor's Notes says:
May 23, 2011
[…] a comment » Eli Pariser on Filter Bubbles (HT Mockingbird). Consider that these “bubbles” are not only found online, or in the media. You have […]
Another Week Ends: Online Echo Chambers, Deathbed Regrets, Dylan at the Cross, MJ’s Bad, Singing Spiderman, Penmanship Psychology & Seinfeld | Mockingbird says:
Jun 3, 2011
[…] pm No Comments 1. A couple of articles that follow-up on the filter bubble phenomenon we posted on last week, both from The NY Times. The first is an editorial by Eli Pariser, “When The Internet Thinks […]
Another Week Ends: Subjectivity, Fixing Horror, Pinball Wizardry, Yogurt Justification and More Super 8 | Mockingbird says:
Jul 8, 2011
[…] seems like a cinematic analogue to filter bubbles–the familiar makes money, and audiences like movies that fit their […]
Surviving November 6th Pt 4: Partisan Narratives, Universal Sympathies and Keith Richards’ Choirmaster | Mockingbird says:
Nov 5, 2012
[…] It’s nothing new of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s not exacerbated by filter bubbles and media fear-mongering and whatnot. What we’re talking about here is not “the […]
Another Week Ends: Miracle Baskets, Doubtful Essays, Optimism vs Quitting, Paternalism, Secret Menus, Netflix Puppetry, Bowie and Mats Return, and Hathaway Haters | Mockingbird says:
Mar 1, 2013
[…] point to reflect on whether Netflix Is Tuning Us Into Puppets. Essentially another aspect of the filter bubble phenomenon, which seems almost tailor made to illustrate the notion of incuravtus in se, ht […]
God Save Us From The Nasty Effect | Mockingbird says:
Mar 7, 2013
[…] sense people create their enemies as much as they find them, which strikes me as another remarkably “incurvatus in se” aspect of the Internet. In fact, if I have one major observation to add from six years of blogging, […]
The “Trigger-Warning” Life | Mockingbird says:
Aug 24, 2015
[…] carefully curated self-equilibrium, whether it be through refusing to watch Foxnews/MSNBC, “filter bubbles” or through our natural confirmation […]
On What Is News (And What Isn’t) | Mockingbird says:
May 26, 2016
[…] gone down this road before. A few years ago Eli Pariser wrote the book about it. How the internet age is providing us with the news we want, with the slant […]
Another Week Ends: The Problem with “Parenting”, Solipsistic Audiophiles, Más Havrilesky, Self-Defeating Happiness, and Dubious Decency | Mockingbird says:
Jul 15, 2016
[…] passive, suffering another’s soundtrack of emotions) to the rise of the playlist (carefully constructed personal experiences), and were it earlier, we’d be lamenting the ability to skip tracks. Tech as a whole tends to […]