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:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s&w=600]
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