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This is a sort of milquetoast piece: no serious social scientist should be using political hack jargain like "American Dream" and "Middle Class" as if they desc

This is a sort of milquetoast piece: no serious social scientist should be using political hack jargain like "American Dream" and "Middle Class" as if they describe real material phenomena and aren't just memes (in the original scene). The fact of the matter is that any media platform where the cost of production is minimal is going to have shit power laws. That said, glad they close out with UBI. If we can't quota the views per video from above, we can at least provide a revenue floor. We're a non-society with with centralized media: increasingly atomized associated people transfixed by the machine. Only in rebuilding society in meat space forces the sparsely connected graph that coupled with technology allows heterogeneity to really shine.

absolutelyrad 6y ago
> The fact of the matter is that any media platform where the cost of production is minimal is going to have shit power laws. Interesting observation.
- Ericson2314 6y ago
  On second thought, "dissemination" / "distribution" would have been clearer. Don't think it matters so much how much money is blown in the recording studio.
wmf 6y ago
The fact of the matter is that any media platform where the cost of production is minimal is going to have shit power laws. Why? Isn't that a function of "the algorithm" which can be changed?
- absolutelyrad 6y ago
  Someone like TikTok, yes, but TikTok is the exception, not the norm. Maybe this works when the content quality difference is limited between top and bottom creators. Instagram could pull off what TikTok did, but not YouTube.
- Ericson2314 6y ago
  I would say this stems from the the social benefits of consuming content that others consume. If a large swatch of people with even weakish bonds all watch the same thing, that's a lot of additional value. Smaller groups consuming the same stuff can also work, but you need very strong bonds to commensurate. The latter stands a chance of producers have a UBI to fall back on. It's kind of like how growing an orchard takes 10 years to turn a profit, but growing a wheat field is instant gratification.

absolutelyrad 6y ago

> The fact of the matter is that any media platform where the cost of production is minimal is going to have shit power laws. Interesting observation.

Ericson2314 6y ago
On second thought, "dissemination" / "distribution" would have been clearer. Don't think it matters so much how much money is blown in the recording studio.

wmf 6y ago

The fact of the matter is that any media platform where the cost of production is minimal is going to have shit power laws. Why? Isn't that a function of "the algorithm" which can be changed?

absolutelyrad 6y ago
Someone like TikTok, yes, but TikTok is the exception, not the norm. Maybe this works when the content quality difference is limited between top and bottom creators. Instagram could pull off what TikTok did, but not YouTube.
Ericson2314 6y ago
I would say this stems from the the social benefits of consuming content that others consume. If a large swatch of people with even weakish bonds all watch the same thing, that's a lot of additional value. Smaller groups consuming the same stuff can also work, but you need very strong bonds to commensurate. The latter stands a chance of producers have a UBI to fall back on. It's kind of like how growing an orchard takes 10 years to turn a profit, but growing a wheat field is instant gratification.