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> If you change, but the algorithms don't acknowledge that change and treat you the same, how much is you identity in your own hands, how fungible is it? I don

> If you change, but the algorithms don't acknowledge that change and treat you the same, how much is you identity in your own hands, how fungible is it? I don't think algorithms doesn't change my identity, but I am curious whether people I am loosely connected or the algorithms will acknowledge this change first. > I don't think so, but I'm not sure it matters. The end result is similar, only that there's not one large conspiracy that's trying to herd you into thinking a certain way. I think there might be though, since marketers always think about market segmentation and creating the systems that guide people into herds will be the first thing they would think. If you consider almost all the big tech companies are funded by advertising, shifting people into manageable segments might be intentional.

luckylion 6y ago
Oh, for sure. Fortunately, they're all trying to get you under their control, and they don't want you under the control of the other guy. As long as you don't get pulled apart, they can act to counter-balance each other. As for identity: I'm not a believer of us having total free will, so what you hear and see is important to what you understand and think. I don't think we're at the point where we're totally controlled by whatever bubble we might have gotten ourselves into, but it certainly doesn't get easier to get out when the services that, to a large degree, shape your world view, have learned what you expect, and are trying to give it to you, even when you've changed. Graphic design to writing might not be the largest change, but for things that affect you to the core, having the world presented to you that in a way that was learned based on the previous version of you might be like a recovering alcoholic walking through a town where every ad is personalized and shows him nothing but booze.

luckylion 6y ago

Oh, for sure. Fortunately, they're all trying to get you under their control, and they don't want you under the control of the other guy. As long as you don't get pulled apart, they can act to counter-balance each other. As for identity: I'm not a believer of us having total free will, so what you hear and see is important to what you understand and think. I don't think we're at the point where we're totally controlled by whatever bubble we might have gotten ourselves into, but it certainly doesn't get easier to get out when the services that, to a large degree, shape your world view, have learned what you expect, and are trying to give it to you, even when you've changed. Graphic design to writing might not be the largest change, but for things that affect you to the core, having the world presented to you that in a way that was learned based on the previous version of you might be like a recovering alcoholic walking through a town where every ad is personalized and shows him nothing but booze.