Si Se Puede - July 11 in Cuba - documentary short

 https://youtu.be/XDfN2yZXK5o

The Social Dilemma: Seven Months Later

Commercial use algorithms must be designed to omit certain types of content. Even though you can opt out to get your feeds in chronological order without interference and you can also make a feed based on your favorites. These are in effect the safety measures social media companies have created in the wake of our political dystopia in America married like a Siamese twin with an alternate reality of a party which uses lies and deception.

Ever since we began congressional hearings on social media the companies have been working to improve the service by removing extreme content that violates “public standards”, but no plans were laid out to regulate for ‘civic standards’, politics or mental illness.

The scary ai, artificial intelligence, we all should worry most about are social media algorithms which create specialized content to serve advertisers. Seven months after the epic documentary film The Social Dilemma we still haven’t addressed the elephant in the room, and it bears repeating. At one point the film which should be required viewing for students, a fictional teen girl smashes a locked box to get her phone locked up on purpose by her mom for only one hour and her son tries for a week without his phone; both instances showcasing the extremes of online addiction. Through these dramatizations guided by interviews with many of the original social media algorithm creators the harsh reality of modern-day technology is clearly evident but the solutions and regulatory needs are not detailed.

We all have our own distinct social media feeds, separate and individual, and when manipulations increase polarization for profit, it becomes dangerous especially when its used just for your attention. Information and news can never be politically motivated in such an environment because it creates harmful interest groups. Content that is deliberately a deception should be considered political and should not be part of any algorithm reliant on holding your attention to sell ads. The psychological consequences will be studied for years to come but what is most urgent is how it effects politics. It is unethical for social media platforms to monetize any content that contains socio political information. While of course free speech and political content should never be banned; people should be able to search and find any type they want legally, but that content again should not be used in algorithms that are monetized to maintain your attention in order to play you ads; this by definition becomes a political ad even if there is no person or political party physically purchasing the feeds. The examples of governments paying social media to help them win elections by manipulating viewers is appalling and egregious. Democracy should never be caught up in a sale of any kind. That is the existential threat. Manipulating your attention for market uses I believe are fair game while obviously coming with other types of psychological problems that should be further studied and regulated. Likewise online platforms should never be able to block search content; the internet must be free from commercial obstruction.

They are calculating our emotions and actions online, analyzing what we consume for advertisers. Political ad buying should never be a part of this and must be illegal on social media, period. Hours of congressional Hearings didn't even mention this as a viable solution. At the very least political monetization altering motivations and the habits of users should be illegal on social media platforms.

Solutions at end of the documentary film give some other essential tips on how you fight the algorithms like not clicking on recommend videos, but the problem is not with savvy people that could reprogram their feeds, it comes with mammoth size groups clustered over specific interests or beliefs regardless of merit. If they are clustered because of commercial access to attention, then they become divided even from their own true beliefs whether they realize it or not. It’s clear that the information age has made smart people smarter and dumb people dumber, but we can not allow mob rule to be strengthened by commercial proxies focused on profit and self-interest.

 

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/algorithms-and-amplification-how-social-media-platforms-design-choices-shape-our-discourse-and-our-minds

The Chair Review and the Lost Debate

 

What a timely series, “The Chair” (currently on Netflix) provides a breath of fresh air, and a place where truth is led astray in the hallowed grounds of truth seeking; highlighting the paradox of democratic movements which like in the series mostly lack detailed focus on outcomes or specific demands. In the Chair liberal activists demand a teacher be fired for making a Nazi salute without any nuanced perspective.  The series looks at how the media frenzy over the student cell video that captures the act goes out of control without said proper context. As awkward and senseless as it seems to the viewer so to are a staggeringly large group of people in our American society baselessly brainwashed to for example view COVID vaccines or the wearing of masks as an afront to their freedom! The series doesn’t make the correlation with well-meaning liberal activists and ring wing fed so called conservative activists nor does it offer any solutions to disinformation campaigns but at least it’s a theme and a topic that can be examined moving forward. While the teacher accused could seemingly end the false narrative with a simple explanation, he does not, and the first season ends without this needed resolution. Convincing conspiratorial “conservatives” that their opinions on masks and vaccines are erroneous has likewise not been properly addressed.

Sandra Oh leads the English department with an Emmy winning grasp of emotion. She’s a delight but run through too fast during much of the first season; the ‘TV pace’ takes away from the theme’s grand realism and its substantive dialogue. I hope the show’s writer producer Amanda Peet, who ranged so well in Brockmire where she played a struggling alcoholic brilliantly, can make an appearance next season.   

The timing and structured plot tunes worked great although there were a few scenes and or scenarios that sounded unrealistic or seemed out of place. Jay Duplass, who plays the accused teacher, and Holland Taylor, who shines as an overdramatic professor who is treated poorly because she’s a woman, both understand the importance of realism, their performances sought true understanding, conveying as much as possible, if only they were on screen more. What’s the rush lol..

Our society much like the University in the Chair, is now undergoing an urgent emergency in climate change and the stated strange political dilemma mired in large misunderstandings. The anti-mask, disinformation campaigns have become a theme all too often to the point where the phrase, “it’s a medical emergency” means you don’t get to decide whether not to wear a mask or get vaccinated because that’s not at all political. Deniers are right to view the government as clueless and inept in the face of so much in action much like the students in the Chair but, they both got the facts wrong, and their alternate reality is blind to research and science as well as against public health. I’m so looking forward to the next season of the Chair, where a proper perspective can be found. As far as American society, I’m afraid what may be needed is more time, media that more forcefully and virally points out misinformation, and or more consequences for the enablers and right wing or so called “Trumpers” who should not only face litigation but should also face our justice department which as an institution sadly fails us in going after dangerous inciteful speech whose results are clearly sociopathic. Truth is being swept on so many levels under the Chair, perhaps, like in the series someone can sit on it and add clarity to the lost debate.