[yodsanklai]

I'm under the impression that people are getting irrationally afraid of "algorithms". Like if some evil AI is controlling people mind.

People wants to read the stuff they are interested in. No algorithm is forcing people to watch fox news for instance.

That being said, FB should give the option to disable the news feed algorithm (or to have several version to choose from maybe), if that makes people happy.

[torben-friis]

>People wants to read the stuff they are interested in. No algorithm is forcing people to watch fox news for instance.

I think a mistake is thinking of people as static sets of tastes and interests. No one is going to be fed news that are a big deviation from their current worldview, but small deltas pile up over time.

[dmix]

Twitter finally returned the option to make the feed chronological again and I’m starting to like Twitter a lot more again. It was way more political and contentious with the smart feed on.

FB should explore these options more. It sounds like there has to be more done here than just turning off the smart feed entirely.

[heavyset_go]

Algorithms are tuned by human beings that are motivated by profit. Algorithms are not computer magic that show people "stuff they are interested in", they're designed to put companies' partners' content in front of eyeballs for money for long periods of time.

[aahortwwy]

Engagement loops do control people's minds. They explicitly aim to maximize the amount of time people spend on a platform. They are inherently manipulative by definition.

It's common when interacting with an engagement loop to experience a loss of agency (perceived, at least). People don't like that feeling, even when they like the content they are being shown.

Machines can be built to exploit odd elements of human psychology. I strongly recommend the book Addiction by Design.

[yodsanklai]

I think "control" is too strong of a word. I'm sure they can influence behavior but other things do influence behavior (advertising, medias, TV, sugar) and we're not excessively worried about them.

[aahortwwy]

I think it's exactly what they do. Control doesn't have to be total. People lying in bed doomscrolling for hours are being controlled, even if just partially, by an engagement loop.

Engagement loops, like the other things you listed, are not inherently "good" or "evil". What organizations use them for may be good or evil, but that's a separate discussion.