Yes absolutely. It’s destructive to curiosity too imo. If you do go and search for something outside the algorithmic expectation it can break things hard (oh, you looked at a thing about shoes? Let me give you nothing but that). Which makes me hesitant about search terms on some platforms.

Potentially this can be fixable in the long term, but I think humans will almost always(?) be superior curators. Mostly because they’re approaching it from “this is what I like” and not “this is what I know you’re going to like.”

> Potentially this can be fixable in the long term, but I think humans will almost always(?) be superior curators. Mostly because they’re approaching it from “this is what I like” and not “this is what I know you’re going to like.”

This is why I like that youtube actually recommends music channels, mixes and compilations that are curated and uploaded by humans. It'll be a sad day when totalitarian copyright enforcement makes this a thing of the past.

It isn't destructive to curiosity if the algorithm puts you in the curious person demographic. The other week I got a video recommendation for how to extract lidocaine out of anal lube. I don't use lidocaine, I don't use anal lube, and I don't know shit about chemistry, yet here I am enjoying this impossibly niche video.

The problem isn't algorithms. The problem is bad algorithms. Lately YouTube has been on point.

This is a GREAT point. I forget how Netflix has pigeon-holed me until I visit a friend and see drastically different choices on their accounts.