I’m sure you have read breathless reports, news stories and tweets about how filter bubbles are harmful. The usual go-to scapegoat are the social networks. The confirmation bias laden bubbles are formed on those networks after all. We collectively tend to assign normative labels to complex topics. Things like compounding get a positive label. Things like filter bubbles get a negative label. I reject that line of thinking. That’s lazy, reductive and counterproductive. Compounding can be negative too! Just start drinking and smoking every day and let’s touch base in a couple years. We can perhaps speed things up if you throw in more sugar and carbs in your diet while not exercising at all. Similarly, filter bubbles can be positive. Shocker! They can be used as forcing functions that leverage exposure bias and spaced repetition for rapidly learning something.
Filter Bubbles!
Filter Bubbles!
Filter Bubbles!
I’m sure you have read breathless reports, news stories and tweets about how filter bubbles are harmful. The usual go-to scapegoat are the social networks. The confirmation bias laden bubbles are formed on those networks after all. We collectively tend to assign normative labels to complex topics. Things like compounding get a positive label. Things like filter bubbles get a negative label. I reject that line of thinking. That’s lazy, reductive and counterproductive. Compounding can be negative too! Just start drinking and smoking every day and let’s touch base in a couple years. We can perhaps speed things up if you throw in more sugar and carbs in your diet while not exercising at all. Similarly, filter bubbles can be positive. Shocker! They can be used as forcing functions that leverage exposure bias and spaced repetition for rapidly learning something.