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I want to spoil a magnificent movie, the Russian classic Stalker [1]. If you haven't watched the film and want to one day, please stop reading this comment. It
by reggieband 5y ago
I want to spoil a magnificent movie, the Russian classic Stalker [1]. If you haven't watched the film and want to one day, please stop reading this comment.
It is a deep film with many themes but one main theme involves a curious plot device. From the Wikipedia article: "The Zone contains a place called the "Room", said to grant the wishes of anyone who steps inside." The theme of that plot device is that once a group of explorers finally get to the room they refuse to go inside. The "Room" isn't a monkey-paw like device that distorts your wishes and gives you a bad outcome, rather it sees inside your soul and gives you what you truly desire. It raises questions about man's conscious desires compared to his unconscious desires. Do you really want to know what you truly desire, even the desires you hide from yourself?
I can't do justice to the film but I think of it often and usually with respect to AI and the unreasonably effective algorithms that drive modern feeds. TikTok is in some ways our first true glimpse into the "Room" of Tarkovsky's Stalker.
All this to say: I don't see any of the things you are saying you see on TikTok. Whether you like it or not the algorithm is sending you what you engage with. You have been sorted into the "desires wild canoe ride" TikTok. You are sorted into the "desires smug fashion gatekeepers" TikTok.
And if you happen to have read this comment and haven't seen Stalker - it is still worth it.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film)
- npteljes 5y agoThe wish theme is present in the first Stalker game too. Along with a fascinating story about the human consciousness.
- m4rtink 5y agoInteresting - thats different from the Strugatsky Roadside Picnic novel the Tarkovskys film is based on. There it was a floting golden ball that would grant you a single wish. The problem was that to get to it you had to pass via a phenomenon they called "the grinder". Anyone stepping inside it would be mutilated into pulp in short order, after which it will deactivate for long enought to let you reach the golden ball. So the dilemma is different there - can you live with the fact that you need to take another uknowing human with you to feed to the grinder for you to have a wish, any wish, granted ? (Well unless the wish could be "Give me unlimitted number of wishes." Then you can just "respawn" your victim without loosing the wish. ;-) )
- emddudley 5y agoTikTok sorts you according to it's interests, not your own. Just because they notice that you are more engaged with irritating content doesn't mean you like irritating content.
- reggieband 5y agoThis does not match my experience using TikTok. I have an heuristic I follow whenever content I do not want appears on my FYP. I immediately scroll. I don't let the video get 10 seconds in, I absolutely do not let it finish. I do not swipe left to see other videos by the same creator. I do not click on the comments to see what other people are saying about the content. The second I realize I do not want content like that I swipe it away. If I get a series of such content I close the app and don't open until the next day. This has been 100% successful in removing unwanted content categories from my feed. Alternatively, the opposite behavior is extremely effective in getting more content related to the current video. I let the video play all the way through or even play multiple times. I swipe left to see other content by the same creator and maybe watch a few of their other videos. I read the comments to see what other people are saying about the video. It's pretty obvious if you think about it.
- CyberFoxar 5y agoI just wish you could downvote to tell the algo to not play on my morbid curiosity and stop recommending my that.
- closeparen 5y ago“If you’re watching it, it’s for you.”