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Meh, some problems are theoretically very interesting, but presently have limited practical applications. Everyone has to find means to survive. For some people

Meh, some problems are theoretically very interesting, but presently have limited practical applications. Everyone has to find means to survive. For some people those theoretical problems, that understanding, are one of very few things that keep oneself whole. That fine line between genius and insanity, it really does exist. I'm not saying that because I think I'm a genius. Just, for some people, the only things that 'ground' us are things that are abstract (I say this with great awareness of the irony). Trying to make the pieces fit with the world, that's sometimes hard. You can throw the whole understanding you've built in the garbage, but then you lose yourself, and, I dunno. I don't think it's desperation for attention. I think it's a compulsion for things to make sense, because, a chaotic world. Some things just have to make sense.

pishpash 8y ago
You don't subscribe to the notion that there might be a market failure here? There is marketmaking, then there is pro-consumption manipulation, how much is each in adtech is debatable, but it is a waste of investment for advanced degree holders to spend time manipulating people.
- s-shellfish 8y ago
  Yea, I agree with that too, I can't say I fully like recommendation engines, as someone who has always veered on the side of 'independent artist' in terms of 'preference philosophy' I find them somewhat pointless, but whatever works. I do like them when they actually yield a correct product that is coming from informed consumers. I waste less money that way as a consumer. I'm talking mainly about books and art supplies here, that's pretty much what I've used them for. Makeup too, but that one, lots of money wasted because the beauty industry is it's own insane beast of navigating trends. I don't like them when they are manipulated by additional entities to dilute the quality of recommendation, and I think honestly this was the reason for their initial creation. But, open system, many recommendation engines work great so long as the consumer base follows the rules. The more lucrative it gets, the more layers of reasoning you need (to compete against bad actors diluting the data quality). The more layers, the greater the need for computational speed. Worthy problem, worthless problem, I don't really know. I know the people working on this stuff aren't necessarily the ones inventing the problems. It's more that the original intent has been corrupted, and that makes some people unhappy. So, people work on fixing the problems.

pishpash 8y ago

You don't subscribe to the notion that there might be a market failure here? There is marketmaking, then there is pro-consumption manipulation, how much is each in adtech is debatable, but it is a waste of investment for advanced degree holders to spend time manipulating people.

s-shellfish 8y ago
Yea, I agree with that too, I can't say I fully like recommendation engines, as someone who has always veered on the side of 'independent artist' in terms of 'preference philosophy' I find them somewhat pointless, but whatever works. I do like them when they actually yield a correct product that is coming from informed consumers. I waste less money that way as a consumer. I'm talking mainly about books and art supplies here, that's pretty much what I've used them for. Makeup too, but that one, lots of money wasted because the beauty industry is it's own insane beast of navigating trends. I don't like them when they are manipulated by additional entities to dilute the quality of recommendation, and I think honestly this was the reason for their initial creation. But, open system, many recommendation engines work great so long as the consumer base follows the rules. The more lucrative it gets, the more layers of reasoning you need (to compete against bad actors diluting the data quality). The more layers, the greater the need for computational speed. Worthy problem, worthless problem, I don't really know. I know the people working on this stuff aren't necessarily the ones inventing the problems. It's more that the original intent has been corrupted, and that makes some people unhappy. So, people work on fixing the problems.