2020 Election Thread

[Superbone]

Hard to believe someone that evil could become President of the United States.

It is. Even the presidency of the United States of America is susceptible to a cult. I never would have imagined that previously.

[Indy]

Maybe you haven' heard of Andrew Jackson.

[Superbone]

Maybe you haven' heard of Andrew Jackson.

I've heard of him of course. I've got his picture all over my money. I'll have to look up that history.

[Nodack]

I visited his house once in Tennessee.

I visited Abraham Lincoln’s house in Illinois and even saw his outhouse where he used to make Lincoln logs...

Andrew Jackson was a slaver, ethnic cleanser, and tyrant. He deserves no place on our money.
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/20/11469514/ ... an-removal

[Nodack]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... March.html
Trump waves to cheering fans as he drives though huge crowds of supporters at the 'Million MAGA March' in DC on his the way to the golf course as clashes break out between rival protesters

[Nodack]

[Cap]

[Nodack]

I don’t even know what to say about that.

[Nodack]

Trumpworld’s Insane New Claim: Mafia Rigged the Vote for Joe
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpworl ... -joe-biden

[Superbone]

This is the POTUS and his people we're talking about. Unbelievable.

[Indy]

This is the POTUS and his people we're talking about. Unbelievable.

And over 73 million people actively chose to have more of it.

[Superbone]

This is the POTUS and his people we're talking about. Unbelievable.

And over 73 million people actively chose to have more of it.

Our country is in a sad state right now. I hope we can pull out of it and start healing. The media and social media is going to have to be part of that change. This scary social media AI is not helping. This is Black Mirror stuff we're dealing with.

[ShelC]

The idea of Parler is especially frightening.

[Indy]

Take a listen to the "Rabbit Hole" limited series podcast. It talks a lot about how echo chambers are intentionally created (kind of) and what it can do. It is only 8 episodes and like 30 minutes each.

[3rdside]

Any chance of an executive summary, Indy?

[Indy]

I will do my best--but it has been a couple months since I listened so some of the details might be fuzzy.

Long story short--and I will focus on Q and white nationalists--is that some really interesting algorithms were written around 2015 or so. They focused on the youtube one and had the coder on that developed it. That was around the time that YT (and all the other social media platforms) changed their model from clicks/views as the way you measured success, to literally the amount of time you spent watching. So think of things like 'auto-play next episode' on Netflix or your Youtube queue, or even auto-playing videos in your FB or Twitter feed.

As a result, some really clever algorithms were created that wouldn't just recommend another cat video if you watched cat videos. It would use the trillions of data points from hundreds of millions of users and say, it looks like people that watched those last few videos you watched also really like to hear about [insert topic here]. It could be a completely different topic, but linked together by some thread you might not even notice on its own. {I certainly did notice a lot of collaboration videos and podcasts around that time}

The effect it had was that you were continually widening your circle of what you would get in your feeds/recommendations, because there are billions of things to look at. But even though it seemed like you were widening it, it really was a long rabbit hole. Your specific twists and turns might be unique to you, but that long path probably brought you to a cave with a ton of other people just like you.

These algorithms work especially well with 'viral' items. Of course they do, and it makes sense. But a lot of these viral items are opinions dressed up as facts. And when your company's profits are designed around getting people to stay engaged, and not about ensuring their is truth, lies cascade broadly and like wildfire.

I guess that was more of a long story slightly shorter...

There is certainly a lot more there and they talk to some people that were radicalized and the key programmer and the head of youtube. The 30 minute episodes fly by fast, and there is usually a recap at the beginning and a commercial in the middle, so for me I burned through the 8 episodes in a 3 sessions of working on other stuff.

[Mori Chu]

Thanks for the interesting summary. I do think these algorithms were created without much thought for how they could be abused by malevolent actors. It's a problem.

[Superbone]

Thanks for the interesting summary. I do think these algorithms were created without much thought for how they could be abused by malevolent actors. It's a problem.

Yep, like I said Black Mirror isn't just entertaining television. It's a warning.

[3rdside]

A great example of data science put to use for nefarious reasons and no doubt not the last time that happens (hello Brexit..). I rarely watch any series' so cheers for the summary.

Black Mirror sounds pretty good though.

[AmareIsGod]