I discussed this problem decades ago when I developed MORSE (http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/morse/MORSE.html http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/morse/MORSE.html). Peop

I discussed this problem decades ago when I developed MORSE (http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/morse/MORSE.html http://web.onetel.com/~hibou/morse/MORSE.html). People like certain things for no obvious reason, and are unlikely to change. It does them no favours to recommend them music they don't like, or anything else which depends on taste. But if there's music similar to the music they're known to like, which they haven't heard - perhaps because the band is obscure, from a different decade or part of the world, or new, for example - they might want to hear it. Also, there might be one or two songs they'd like by artists they don't normally listen to. Collaborative filtering is good for this. Your point is valid about ideas, news, and a number of other things which have nothing to do with taste. People would benefit from sometimes being exposed to viewpoints different from their own.