The Filter Bubble: How the hidden web is shaping lives

[xtremetom180]

Interesting viewpoint here

[tommmmmm]

lol @ trollers here....

[MarioSavioTZM]

the traditional media does not give us a balance.. sorry. It's for the most part demoralizing propaganda that completely ignores context. There are some rising alternative networks (the real news, RT I guess) but the media in general I don't feel diverse. good talk though.

[jpdt007]

what´s ironic is that the internet filtered the information and let me find a talk about how my information is being filtered...

[anjarrad]

Very well planned and executed presentation Eli, and I thank you for taking the time to bring these issues to light.

One a lighter note, I would like to ask you what application you used to create the presentation used here?

Thanks and well done.

[drumbum4628]

@anjarrad you are a moron

[anjarrad]

@drumbum4628 if those few words are all you could muster, then its frighteningly obvious that you are just a simpleton and a hater, and you probably got completely lost watching the video above, too many big words...

so go beat your Drum you Bum

[drumbum4628]

@anjarrad you are obviously still a moron. what makes you think he will ever see your comment? or better yet, hes using as mac for crying out loud!!! what program do you think hes using???

[anjarrad]

@drumbum4628 thanks for answering my question dic-fuk, now go back to hating, and while you're at it, think about getting a job ya Bum

[anjarrad]

@drumbum4628 thanks for answering my question dic-fuk, now go back to hating, and while you're at it, think about getting a job ya Bum

[drumbum4628]

@anjarrad actually i am working as a full time drummer, and i teach drums to 15 students and i'm currently an intern at an IT Company in South Pas, one step closer to have my dream job, since i'm going to Mt. Sierra (a private College) to major in Information Technology and Security. So don't judge me by my fucking youtube name you ignorant fuck.....and while your at it, learn how to spell dick-fuck....Moron.

[DryBaboon]

Facebook "like" is indeed too dumb and ambiguous a vote. Slashdot insightful / informative etc is a better way

[Archflip]

I guess in some way after watching this, it's our social responsibility to click the like button in order to disperse the information through the system.

[gogogodancer]

Well this is interesting, but sadly, i come from a time where we still used the dewey decimal system. I hardly think that i could go to a library, and then to the section that i was researching and find the book directly. There still is some digging necessary. research doesnt happen overnight, and even though the internet is there to 'help', we must continue to work at finding what it is we are seeking. Thumbs up for the interesting content either way.

[mickXfan]

so that's how naruto got so damn overrated lol

[helehole]

the adio is sooo low :(

[RiceFather]

It would be interesting if there was a sort of "nega-google" which could operate by the same statistics, but deliver the content completely opposite to your statistical preferences. To keep some sort of perspective at least.

[xjustamem0ryx]

@RiceFather

would be nice. but corporate control is as stubborn as an ass. especially when the law sanctions them--irrespective of whether or not the law is actually right.

[jonleu]

repost?

[antqueen1957]

Sensational - worth every second of paying attention.

[shotou]

My internet is my internet, and not the internet?

[trE3E3]

random info: the interviewer is hot.... and intelligent... win!

[boredinyork]

Youtube isn't going to recommend French Cinema to me if I like this, is it? I really don't need that to be part of the bubble I'm currently in :p

Seriously though, great video, very thought provoking.

[MiamiRoach]

Has this guy even used youtube? land on a video by mistake, let's say one of those cuko conspiracy theory videos. You get nothing but conspiracy theories on the suggestion bar. Next thing you know all your recommendation videos are from conspiracy theorists type, alex jones, david icke, nwo videos etc.

You don't even get a video with a contrasting opinion. It's all about getting them hooked on more of the same stuff to pump up Ad revenue. Is not about rocking their beliefs or ideologies

[RowdyWizzarrdd]

Sniffing cameraman distracts me. Still, a wonderful outlook.

[CosmicSeaman]

17:45 Great point. 

[GenericTerric]

I loved what he said at the end: "If you're going to do personalization, have a clear idea of what a person is."

[Textynn]

Facebook is part of the Media Propaganda Machine.

[GenericTerric]

The sound is too low

[MarkoKraguljac]

It exaggerates some aspects of a nascent and transitory technology but ok overall. At every stage of our development our brains impose filters themselves and slowly and spontaneously move forward by accepting small chunks of "unknown". As with eating, our connectomes do not become *better* through total exposure to all available data but by slow introduction of new stuff. Just leave Internet ON and everything will be better than ever.

Long live technological disruption!

[jonesph91]

and then, uhh, and uhh, good argument though

[MT2R]

It's on the users to search out mind-expanding/alternative viewpoints. For example, I'm an anarchist that watches RSA. It's up to people to decide if they want to be challenged and how much. Should be commonplace knowledge soon enough that everything online is filtered.

[shayne233]

Don't give this comment a thumbs up, Google will filter your searches based off of it.

[AutumnKitten]

The Borg and the 5th deminstion we are trying to unrealisticly become. Not good. I'd really not like to become A Ghost In The Shell kind of concept.

[shenas5002]

24:09 perfect example of daniel pink, "A whole New Mind"

why right brainers will rule the future

[keskursay]

i wonder wat sort of person would be suggested this channel.

[tjfrisch]

1 word: Stumbleupon.

[ICaptainMidnightI]

I think this comes down a little too harshly on the 'gatekeepers' here. I often get news and comments on facebook which I don't agree with, purely because I comment on them equally, if not more, than those points I do agree with.

I think the system would work very well indeed if we used them to seek out opposing view points, and making an effort to see them, rather than blaming sites for doing what makes sense for them.

Very interesting video though, hadn't considered it before.

[Ditrix88]

that's why the "plus" is better than the "like"

[AndreisEntaro]

This is interesting when you consider that people can be polarized by this, you may end up in a situation where you are making a rational decision on what is best for you in life but making that decision based on slanted information. As such we end up unable to see opposing view points because, to us, all of the information shows our opinion to be correct. Also, consider that your searches can be changed if one masks their computer with your IP address and what that would do to the info you get.

[Incrediblemouse5]

Yes, that's how Facebook works. Do you really believe we 'should' find differing viewpoints at sites that specifically offer 'tailored content'? If you want differing viewpoints, find a site that offers it. End of study/topic. Have a great day.

[595o]

repost?

[xjustamem0ryx]

if you're a moron and search for moron stuff then you'll get more moron results when you try to look for more stuff; moron or otherwise. the people who want to lock themselves in a bubble of blissful ignorance will do it with or without a web filter.

it's like linguistic filters (any language). even though language has great power in communication and expression, it's axiomatic nature of acceptable definitions, words and idioms can end up conditioning reality itself instead of describing it.

[rustyrusky]

@xjustamem0ryx Yes, this is exactly my pov. Google doesn't lock out information, you'll get it if you learn how to access it. The results can be of an astonishing precision. When I want to know the opposite side of a popular argument I just make my search very precise and I get the information I want. "Egypt" is not precise, it's just a word that can be used in any sort of context and time.

The only thing I agree on is the like button. It really doesn't go for relevance but distorts the view

[g00dmaydieyoung]

@xjustamem0ryx What you said in your first paragraph is definitely true. The problem here though is that people don't know they're being locked in a filter bubble. That moron maybe didn't know that he/she is a moron and therefore will have a harder time gaining intelligence to better himself/herself. The internet should be about breaking the social norms we've grown to be familiar with, not progressively continuing them.

[xjustamem0ryx]

@g00dmaydieyoung

yeah, but the algorithm only requires an inquisitive input (not an identity of some inputter). the moment the "uncertain moron" starts typing more novelty-seeking (or idea challenging) input, the sooner they'll move out of the bubble. unless the bubble is entirely prohibitive like a jail cell.

[g00dmaydieyoung]

@xjustamem0ryx But that's just what the internet could change. It could give a misinformed person true information. We can keep the idiots lower than the rest of us for the benefit of ourselves and that seems fine, but to create a world that gives everyone equal opportunity would be even better. The internet has the capability to do this; information bubbles destroy that capability. I'm not saying that people aren't responsible for themselves, but it's ok to help the "morons" out there.

[xjustamem0ryx]

@g00dmaydieyoung

yeah there are times when someone does not already know what they're looking for but they do know that they want it to challenge their beliefs or be something different than what they're used to. in those cases there wouldn't necessarily be an input to break the cycle.

it's almost like filter bubbles are the "locked room that you don't know that you can't leave from". only isn't the issue just that, "do we have the power to otherwise leave bubble, and is it being exploited"?

[xjustamem0ryx]

@g00dmaydieyoung

what do you mean internet would give misinformed person true information? do you mean 'without a search engine at all to bias it' or 'with an unbiased search engine'? there's a lot of "true info" out there and these engines try to make it easier to connect with it. filtering is one way to narrow the time it takes. though at some point it becomes 30 sec vs 1 min in which case do we really need speed at the expense of quality...

[HPhilippK]

Isn't this 'relevance' exactly the reason why people should keep on reading the good old newspaper?

[rm02px]

Facebook doesn't represent the connectivity of the Internet. Come on RSA, aren't you people filled with intellects? I sometimes drink milk at dinner and sometimes drink wine, it all about circumstance. Predict that asshole.

[ArchitectCobra]

400 videos, woo! grats!

[toyshine]

A really good talk. Though I hate that intro in these videos.

[IHighLikePlane]

@toyshine I happen to love to intro.

[MrIzzyDizzy]

@toyshine i hate the second atatement in it -" we dont want to focus politics on a notion that involves the rejection of principles around witch a large majority of our fellow citizens have organised thier lives" = it shows we are going to only search for answers inside the box - and right now the world needs very creative solutions - that in fact are probably outside the box. similarly these filter bubbles can trap us in our own box of our own bias= anti-debate non challenging information

[SomeoneSomewhereMax]

Fi.... I'm stright, and the sound isn't loud enough :\ now watching, seems nice :D