Twitter’s algorithm is effectively a heat seeking missile for controversy and conflict.
It’s not *the* root cause of polarization, but it’s a hell of a catalyst. Needs a serious redesign, stat.
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Is a redesign possible? It sorta feels like the heatseekingness is an emergent property of human beings or the way attention works or something. I feel confused about what it would even mean to have something structured in a way that's both competitive and also not heatseekingy
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It is to an extent yes, but the algorithm and other functions like QTs lean into it like no tomorrow- there are many ways to at least try to minimise it, but the current design does the exact opposite
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I still think that if hating a Tweet naturally led to it being seen less instead of more, that would help a lot
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e.g. if it were expressed with a downvote that made the thing less seen, instead of via RTing it with a description of your unhappiness
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There are more reasons to read and react to something than just controversy. Interest, for example. I'm not watching a maths video that was recommended to me on YouTube for the controversy. I'm pessimistic any of those drivers will be competitive on Twitter, though.