diff --git a/blogContent/posts/other/responsible-optimization.md b/blogContent/posts/other/responsible-optimization.md index 926f94a..5e94b4c 100644 --- a/blogContent/posts/other/responsible-optimization.md +++ b/blogContent/posts/other/responsible-optimization.md @@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ be “move fast and break things”, however, after Zuckerburg was lambasted in front of congress, that motto is slowly changing. -Facebook like many tech companies creddits it’s major success to +Facebook like many tech companies credits its major success to optimizing a sometimes niche problem -- this is something that programmers love to do and computers are perfect at. Facebook -optimized how people consume media, but they did it at the detriment +optimized how people consume media, but they did it to the detriment of quality content. Youtube tremendously optimized how we view videos -by suggesting us recommended videos to watch, but, if often suggests +by suggesting us recommended videos to watch, but, it often suggests repulsive content. Uber optimized how people found rides, but it resulted in an influx of part time drivers that are slowly pushing out full time drivers. This is not to say that optimization is a bad @@ -54,24 +54,24 @@ This now begs the question: how do we do we solve these issues? This is something that Thompson didn’t discuss in depth nor had a great answer for. We could point our fingers at governments, companies, or consumers and tell them to solve the problem. Surely having the -government enact some well constructed public policy based on the +government enact some well-constructed public policy based on the current policy environment would solve the issues… right? The problem in the age of big data is that things are changing at a rapid pace and by the time we realize the dangers of a particular issue, it may have already caused grave damages or morphed into another form. Look at gambling for example, we have had decades of laws and regulations -surrounding underage gambling, however, online gambling issues has -been consistently creeping its way into policy discussion over the -last five. It is fascinating that most public policy generated in the +surrounding underage gambling, however, online gambling issues have +been consistently creeping their way into policy discussion over the +last five years. It is fascinating that most public policy generated in the technology field is actually created in the court systems. This is good in the sense that the court system is often faster than passing a new law, but, it is also very problematic. Old laws when used to -interpret a nuanced technological problem often yields outcomes that +interpret a nuanced technological problem often yield outcomes that the original authors of the law would possibly disagree with. Although Thompson’s talk raises more questions and problems than -tangible easy to implement solutions, we must start having discussions +tangible easy-to-implement solutions, we must start having discussions like this so we can enact a cultural change around how we approach optimization tasks. Adding back careful reflection and deliberation back to currently optimized tasks on the internet could give us more