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>Youtube is net bad for the world Disagree. The outliers don’t determine the value of the platform. The videos of people creating, fixing, coding, diagnosing,

by aantix 2y ago

>Youtube is net bad for the world Disagree. The outliers don’t determine the value of the platform. The videos of people creating, fixing, coding, diagnosing, doing every day random things - those are a gift to humanity. Those visual demonstrations transcend language. Because of this, YouTube is more important than Google or any written word website. Knowledge share is finally global.

elliotec 2y ago
This is not how YouTube, or people, or virality work though. The fact there is some useful educational content is a byproduct of the machine of lucrative trash of the capitalist hellhole spiral, and the written word will always prevail comparatively. You can always bet on text. https://graydon2.dreamwidth.org/193447.html https://graydon2.dreamwidth.org/193447.html Also, as you likely know, YouTube is owned by Google so it’s very silly to say it’s “more important.”
- scrollaway 2y ago
  What you're saying is that the high quality educational content is subsidized by the trash. It doesn't make it net-bad. It makes it an ad-supported educational resource. Is that surprising, given that it's owned by an ad company?
  - elliotec 2y ago
    It does make it net-bad because the educational content should exist without the trash, which is far more prevalent. It forces the positive stuff to comply with the trash algorithms that make them worse and also forces them to comply with the monopoly of one of the largest, most monolithic corporations in the world that can do whatever the fuck they want with the content. Of course it's not surprising! It's just shitty and needs to be different.
    - scrollaway 2y ago
      But the educational content DOESNT exist without the trash and you cannot make a case that it just would, that’s unlikely and impossible to prove. “Net bad” means the world would be absolutely and inarguably better without YouTube. This is so outlandish, honestly; YouTube at its core is an information sharing platform and a lot of useful things have come out of it. Immense amounts even.
p_j_w 2y ago
> Disagree. The outliers don’t determine the value of the platform. Agreed. > The videos of people creating, fixing, coding, diagnosing, doing every day random things - those are a gift to humanity. These seem like the outliers.
- MetaWhirledPeas 2y ago
  The good news is they don't have to be outliers for you. Watch what you want; skip the rest.
rurp 2y ago
Mr Beast and similar viral videos are hardly the outliers given that their traffic absolutely dwarfs the best educational videos. There is a lot of useful and interesting content on Youtube, but that's very much a niche use. The vast majority of watched hours are on content much closer to Mr Beast than learning how to code or a diy woodworking project.
- aantix 2y ago
  The value isn't determined by watched hours. No other streaming platform offers a video catalog that covers nearly all aspects of human activities. This has never existed in all of humanity.

by aantix 2y ago

elliotec 2y ago

This is not how YouTube, or people, or virality work though. The fact there is some useful educational content is a byproduct of the machine of lucrative trash of the capitalist hellhole spiral, and the written word will always prevail comparatively. You can always bet on text. https://graydon2.dreamwidth.org/193447.html https://graydon2.dreamwidth.org/193447.html Also, as you likely know, YouTube is owned by Google so it’s very silly to say it’s “more important.”

scrollaway 2y ago
What you're saying is that the high quality educational content is subsidized by the trash. It doesn't make it net-bad. It makes it an ad-supported educational resource. Is that surprising, given that it's owned by an ad company?
- elliotec 2y ago
  It does make it net-bad because the educational content should exist without the trash, which is far more prevalent. It forces the positive stuff to comply with the trash algorithms that make them worse and also forces them to comply with the monopoly of one of the largest, most monolithic corporations in the world that can do whatever the fuck they want with the content. Of course it's not surprising! It's just shitty and needs to be different.
  - scrollaway 2y ago
    But the educational content DOESNT exist without the trash and you cannot make a case that it just would, that’s unlikely and impossible to prove. “Net bad” means the world would be absolutely and inarguably better without YouTube. This is so outlandish, honestly; YouTube at its core is an information sharing platform and a lot of useful things have come out of it. Immense amounts even.

p_j_w 2y ago

> Disagree. The outliers don’t determine the value of the platform. Agreed. > The videos of people creating, fixing, coding, diagnosing, doing every day random things - those are a gift to humanity. These seem like the outliers.

MetaWhirledPeas 2y ago
The good news is they don't have to be outliers for you. Watch what you want; skip the rest.

rurp 2y ago

Mr Beast and similar viral videos are hardly the outliers given that their traffic absolutely dwarfs the best educational videos. There is a lot of useful and interesting content on Youtube, but that's very much a niche use. The vast majority of watched hours are on content much closer to Mr Beast than learning how to code or a diy woodworking project.

aantix 2y ago
The value isn't determined by watched hours. No other streaming platform offers a video catalog that covers nearly all aspects of human activities. This has never existed in all of humanity.