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I have to disagree, not because you're wrong, but because I am jaded. I think it will be solved by better algorithms and machine learning after it gets worse fo
by iandanforth 8y ago
I have to disagree, not because you're wrong, but because I am jaded. I think it will be solved by better algorithms and machine learning after it gets worse for a very long time. If there is a temporary replacement of algorithms with human curation the scale of the economic incentive to replace those workers is vast. An institution like Google or Amazon cannot look at a huge, low-skill workforce and not actively wonder how to replace them. I lived this personally as I was briefly an adwords editor. I was one of a huge cadre of BA's employed to enforce complex and messy rules about text ads. Simultaneously, embedded engineers watched us so they could better craft algorithmic replacements. Eventually they did.
That experience was a non-zero factor in my transition into a technical career. Big companies will automate anything they can and being on the automation side rather than the automated seems like the better idea.
- ryandrake 8y agoAs automation gets better, do you think the bad actors are just going to shrug, say “well that was good while it lasted” and give up? Their automation will keep improving too. I’d argue that the spammers’ algorithms will always be better than their targets’ because their effort directly impacts their bottom line, whereas their targets’ anti spam efforts have to only catch enough to avoid turning their legit audience away.