• @[email protected]
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    903 months ago

    endless feed

    to fight algorithm addiction

    endless

    feed

    to fight algorithm addiction

    Uuuuuh that’s not the way to fight an addiction, right? Who is this person working for, exactly?

    • fox2263
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      153 months ago

      I don’t think there’s an algorithm involved actually. Just lovely facts.

      • @[email protected]
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        123 months ago

        Well, there has to be some kind of algorithm. Even picking a random Wikipedia article technically is an algorithm, just not one that adapts to the user

        • @[email protected]
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          13 months ago

          Right, but in the context of social media feeds, “algorithm” always refers to an algorithm for personalised content.

        • @[email protected]
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          83 months ago

          True, but outside CS the word has come to refer to a certain brand of complex heuristics or ML inference.

        • fox2263
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          23 months ago

          An algorithm usually involves lots of complex calculations and weights. Picking a number from a pool of numbers at random is as simple as it gets.

          • @[email protected]
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            33 months ago

            In comsci, there are no real random numbers. They are all seeded psuedo-random number algorithms. (Unless you integrate with some third party random as a service setup)

            • @[email protected]
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              23 months ago

              That’s a common misconception. You can measure a lot of ambient noise and extract entropy. Like time between inputs or how long it took an HDD to seek.

              Most modern PC CPUs even have dedicated hardware for generating random numbers from electrical ambient noise. I don’t trust them however.

            • fox2263
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              33 months ago

              Yes but the common interpretation of “the algorithm” is that of the social media and YouTube style one. Recommending items of interest etc but easily manipulated by bad actors.

              Wiki random is about as opposite to that as possible.

      • Higgs boson
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        3 months ago

        Ironically, my overly chatty doctor was ranting about how methadone is a racket and they string people along for years instead of titrating them off. He prescribes Suboxone, apparently.