inquiry

With respect to CJ Eller's thoughfulness on the difficulty of managing information, I'm less “take out the algorithm” (which CJ wasn't espousing, but was referring to as what some suggest/espouse) than I am “let me be part of the algorithm”.

A simple example would be a social feed that defaults to chronological, but let's me regular expression it into submission, or – way better yet – let's me associate my own filtering/ordering algorithms courtesy of the likes of what used to be called “user exits”.

Of course, that implies giving user algorithms higher priority than, say, advertiser algorithms, so I guess I'm once again dreaming an impossible dream for a capitalist context....

But do you see why in my attempted sarcasm?

(Contestants! Start your parsers!!!)

I think it's because we know down deep survival needs (which aren't necessary reasonable, e.g. does Jeff Bezos really need a – what is it now, anyway? – gatrillion dollars to survive?) will continue to trump dreamy utopia pangs, because we're a lot more what we used to be (i.e. evolution doesn't necessarily mean the old shit is gone, but possibly simply buried but with concealed voting rights as it were (which is a sort of description of the “down deep” that appeared earlier in this horrific run-on of a sentence)) than we'd like to believe we've become (but which I swear is just so much disingenuous veneer).

Said hopefully far more simply, how could it possibly matter to what – on average – are essentially still chimps giggling over scat smears?

Someone recently sent me a link to a Medium article premising the show “Cheers” as triggering the downfall of western civilization, basically for it being about one smart guy surrounded – and thus perpetually stymied – by idiots.

Well, um, yeah. Except I pointed out to her that I don't remember it being much different when I was in grade school 30+ years earlier.

New-tricks-incapable-old-dogs in suits, etc.

To me, the great strides made in so-called tech are well nigh useless so long as similar strides aren't being made in users of tech. And I'm not talking so much users learning how to use fancy shit as I am users no longer being fancy shit.

If you know what I mean....