8 ms·

I agree. I think all data can tell us is what people _are_ watching, not what people would get the most enjoyment out of watching. It's like if a chef based a

I agree. I think all data can tell us is what people _are_ watching, not what people would get the most enjoyment out of watching. It's like if a chef based a restaurant menu on the average diet of the average person. You may find neat patterns and be able to hyperstimulate some drive in people, but that's a very different thing than carefully designing a new or engaging thing people didn't know they wanted. It's sort of a guaranteed averaging feedback loop.

discodave 8y ago
> You may find neat patterns and be able to hyperstimulate some drive in people This is pretty much what fast-food chains do methinks? And I think that's an apt comparison to what people are lamenting with Netflix above.
- sopooneo 8y ago
  I have a strong suspicion some of the newest crop of Netflix/Hulu/Amazon shows are already doing that to some degree.
alexpetralia 8y ago
This is a very insightful comment.
kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
It only tells what people are watching from an extremely limited data set. I would have much different viewing patterns if Netflix streaming was anywhere near what their DVD selection was. You could watch all manner of obscure films that aren't worth buying and streaming services aren't going to carry.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  I'm glad I was able to watch much of my movie bucket list before Netflix decided to let the DVD inventory decline. There's definitely a DVD rental market for "every dvd that is or ever was in print."
zormino 8y ago
Yup. The endgame for this type of content if there is one is probably dynamically generated shows that adapt story lines and characters to need your mood and desires, even the unconscious ones.
jancsika 8y ago
> I think all data can tell us is what people _are_ watching, not what people would get the most enjoyment out of watching. Just to be clear/nitpicky, you're talking about an algorithm that starts with the catalog Netflix could afford to license at some moment in time, and then maximizes the viewer's enjoyment for that limited set of content. That's probably a vastly different level of enjoyment than starting with, say, the catalog of available content listed in IMDB and maximizing for the same thing.
- gdfasfklshg4 8y ago
  Surely Netflix starts with the larger catalogue of all possible content when deciding what content to licence and also what content to make.
  - jancsika 8y ago
    Sure. But they are still at best delivering "the most enjoyable experience where the enjoyment is bounded by the content that Netflix can afford to license." A user can hit those constraints when they search for something that exists but is not available on Netflix. That point becomes noteworthy when that same content (or portions of it) are available elsewhere on the net. In my experience this is typically through: a) downloading a torrent of the content that is missing from Netflix b) watching all or some portion of that content on Youtube

discodave 8y ago

> You may find neat patterns and be able to hyperstimulate some drive in people This is pretty much what fast-food chains do methinks? And I think that's an apt comparison to what people are lamenting with Netflix above.

sopooneo 8y ago
I have a strong suspicion some of the newest crop of Netflix/Hulu/Amazon shows are already doing that to some degree.

alexpetralia 8y ago

This is a very insightful comment.

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago

It only tells what people are watching from an extremely limited data set. I would have much different viewing patterns if Netflix streaming was anywhere near what their DVD selection was. You could watch all manner of obscure films that aren't worth buying and streaming services aren't going to carry.

skookumchuck 8y ago
I'm glad I was able to watch much of my movie bucket list before Netflix decided to let the DVD inventory decline. There's definitely a DVD rental market for "every dvd that is or ever was in print."

zormino 8y ago

Yup. The endgame for this type of content if there is one is probably dynamically generated shows that adapt story lines and characters to need your mood and desires, even the unconscious ones.

jancsika 8y ago

> I think all data can tell us is what people _are_ watching, not what people would get the most enjoyment out of watching. Just to be clear/nitpicky, you're talking about an algorithm that starts with the catalog Netflix could afford to license at some moment in time, and then maximizes the viewer's enjoyment for that limited set of content. That's probably a vastly different level of enjoyment than starting with, say, the catalog of available content listed in IMDB and maximizing for the same thing.

gdfasfklshg4 8y ago
Surely Netflix starts with the larger catalogue of all possible content when deciding what content to licence and also what content to make.
- jancsika 8y ago
  Sure. But they are still at best delivering "the most enjoyable experience where the enjoyment is bounded by the content that Netflix can afford to license." A user can hit those constraints when they search for something that exists but is not available on Netflix. That point becomes noteworthy when that same content (or portions of it) are available elsewhere on the net. In my experience this is typically through: a) downloading a torrent of the content that is missing from Netflix b) watching all or some portion of that content on Youtube