UnnamedPrayer on Nostr: The biggest problem with algos is that they distort reality. Yes, you don't want to ...

The biggest problem with algos is that they distort reality. Yes, you don't want to miss all the interesting things, even if you don't know whether you gonna like it or not, you want to be up-to-date with all the latest shit, again even with the topics you don't yet know about so let someone/something figure it out for you. However you will miss things in life. Especially the ones you really wouldn't want to miss. You simply cannot be everywhere all the time. That's the nature of existence.
This constant buzzing of updates, trends, toplists, follows and hypes the steady flow of dopamine gives people the false sense (in terms of magnitude) of importance resulting in a whole generation of influencers who view themselves as god-emperors in real life because of the 20k followers online. Not to mention that all algorithms can be abused one way or another leading to unforeseen consequences. I'm looking at you Taproot!

"The road to hell is paved with best intentions."

quoting
nevent1q…m6a9

all nostr clients use algorithms

most just choose the algorithm of sorting messages in timestamp order

this is the most neutral algorithm, it’s attractive ideologically

it’s a stark contrast to the corporate-controlled engagement algorithms we’re accustomed to on the rest of the web. It feels like a breath of fresh air. it makes nostr feel peaceful

but it also makes it hard to find areas of activity and energy which might match my interests. what happened while I was gone? what do I not know about yet, but might I find interesting?

if an algorithm is designed to attempt to bait me into anger/rage for the purposes of serving me an ad, then this is an algorithm I would like the power to opt out of. It’s designed to serve me an ad, not to inform me

I want to choose algorithms that serve my interest to learn from people I trust (e.g. show me the notes from people I don’t follow, but who are most zapped by people I have zapped; surface notes that are replies to notes I may have seen and zapped but which are gaining a lot of zaps/replies themselves)

we can create algorithms that serve the needs of users and not the needs of corporations. They can be transparent (how do they work?) and pluggable (add/remove which algorithms you see fit). This is a different approach with different incentives from any existing algorithms in social media. “Show me the incentives I’ll show you the outcome.” We’ve never seen the outcome with this set of incentives.

I want a nostr that’s more alive and points me towards hubs of energy/activity, but is structured in service of me