One time I bought a bunch of Middle Eastern spices online, and for like two months I got a bunch of ads for Muslim dating sites. My favorite tagline was "find your lover the halal way".
Also I only buy bras and swimsuits in incognito mode because otherwise it's too weird to be reading The Atlantic and have the page be like "we interrupt you reading about the Sudanese civil war to show you scantily clad lingerie models on the beach". I'm not a prude, it's just the tonal whiplash sort of breaks my brain.
It always warm my heart in a sick way that the Trump meme coin ad shows up before watching a Bulwark Take or Adam Kinzinger’s video. I think they may get some Google ad money, even just a few bucks.
My algorithm thinks I'm a Navy SEAL with ED who wears Anthropologie and is also large breasted. Yep, pass those I don't care's, you can just wait your turn and heavy side order of estrogen thanks very much.
"As Benjamin Wittes has repeatedly complained about, his algorithmic stalkers fervently believe he would like to purchase an eastern European sex slave, apparently based on the fact that he is male, middle-aged, and has an interest in Ukraine."
You don't have to be male for this, or especially interested in Ukraine (Слава Україні! – but I shouldn't count as *knowledgeable*). Or, even, necessarily, middle-aged (I recall seeing ads for mail-order honeys back in my 20s, when algorithms were presumably much more primitive). Fun fact – at least, I think it's a fact:
Nasty earwax ads are what the algorithms serve those they have no clue how to serve. "The firms who bid indiscriminately to show ads to everyone, but only at fire-sale prices" show earwax ads, or maybe ads for "luxury" spinning tops (which I also get).
In the article in Red Letter Christians "for too many people in ministry, including missionaries, their sense of calling can arise from a lack of awareness and healing from past trauma. A calling to ministry can become a Band-Aid or an avoidance tactic that can create further harm as the person plunges into a pursuit of sainthood." Wow. That is really powerful.
Also the white lady holding up a sign, wearing a radical t-shirt in the photo is definitely me (or a me equivalent.
I own a Tesla with Full Self Driving. That car confirms to me that Elon is definitely not brilliant or even well informed and definitely doesn’t drive.
It also confirms along with Alexa that AI has a very long way to go before it can make espresso or get the right label on an Amazon package that may or may not contain what somebody ordered. As a retired engineer who used a lot of very expensive and fancy electronics, I’m not all that impressed with algorithms. All they are is a mathematic expression set up to vary based on inputs.
But, the base set up of that expression will bias how the expression changes and functions or not.
If the variables are of the wrong values the expression would diverge rather than converge. In fact with a complex expression that divergence or convergence could happen to chunks of the expression further pushing the solution away from an ideal.
We see things like the SRB’s land on a barge or get grabbed as they land or those frightening robots jump around in boxes, but those are specifically programmed actions with carefully controlled boundaries.
The idea of customizing a shopping experience based on search engine choices could go off in any number of directions.
In Berkeley Fletchers algorithm I suspect a very basic age and gender bias, slightly tweaked by too heavily weighted rare searches.
These algorithms like those folks in this administration don’t think.
I tried to get an AI illustrator to replicate something that is real and exists and that I had searched images of multiple times. The more AI generated images I rejected the further the generator got from my expectation.
I attempted this exercise five different times over the course of two days. The images diverged widely from what I was after.
I think a lot of what we see is about as sophisticated as a gumball machine and not anything at all to do with AI.
Congrats! My audiobook should arrive just in time for the work commute next week. Definitely been looking forward to this one. If I weren't on call all next week I'd drive up for the book store event. We don't get that kind of cool stuff here in WV...
Dear Holly/Molly,
You could be my daughter. If you’re ever “up for” adoption, I got cha 🥰
AND…congrats on your book and interviews etc. I’m so proud of you, and so happy for you!!!
Pair those with a floppy hat and an outspoken T-shirt, and that is my style archetype. B*TCH.
Yes to all of this!! Don’t mess with us. And DON’T make our estrogen patches any more expensive.
They’re messing with the “I don’t care generation”. Time to channel our inner Winona Ryder.
This is so awesome!
One time I bought a bunch of Middle Eastern spices online, and for like two months I got a bunch of ads for Muslim dating sites. My favorite tagline was "find your lover the halal way".
Also I only buy bras and swimsuits in incognito mode because otherwise it's too weird to be reading The Atlantic and have the page be like "we interrupt you reading about the Sudanese civil war to show you scantily clad lingerie models on the beach". I'm not a prude, it's just the tonal whiplash sort of breaks my brain.
It always warm my heart in a sick way that the Trump meme coin ad shows up before watching a Bulwark Take or Adam Kinzinger’s video. I think they may get some Google ad money, even just a few bucks.
Go. Holly, GO!
My algorithm thinks I'm a Navy SEAL with ED who wears Anthropologie and is also large breasted. Yep, pass those I don't care's, you can just wait your turn and heavy side order of estrogen thanks very much.
Lolol
Who knew?
"As Benjamin Wittes has repeatedly complained about, his algorithmic stalkers fervently believe he would like to purchase an eastern European sex slave, apparently based on the fact that he is male, middle-aged, and has an interest in Ukraine."
You don't have to be male for this, or especially interested in Ukraine (Слава Україні! – but I shouldn't count as *knowledgeable*). Or, even, necessarily, middle-aged (I recall seeing ads for mail-order honeys back in my 20s, when algorithms were presumably much more primitive). Fun fact – at least, I think it's a fact:
Nasty earwax ads are what the algorithms serve those they have no clue how to serve. "The firms who bid indiscriminately to show ads to everyone, but only at fire-sale prices" show earwax ads, or maybe ads for "luxury" spinning tops (which I also get).
https://www.thegist.ie/the-gist-earwax-and-spinning-tops/
In the article in Red Letter Christians "for too many people in ministry, including missionaries, their sense of calling can arise from a lack of awareness and healing from past trauma. A calling to ministry can become a Band-Aid or an avoidance tactic that can create further harm as the person plunges into a pursuit of sainthood." Wow. That is really powerful.
Also the white lady holding up a sign, wearing a radical t-shirt in the photo is definitely me (or a me equivalent.
It’s me! Or maybe you knew that 😄
💙💙 Rock on!
I own a Tesla with Full Self Driving. That car confirms to me that Elon is definitely not brilliant or even well informed and definitely doesn’t drive.
It also confirms along with Alexa that AI has a very long way to go before it can make espresso or get the right label on an Amazon package that may or may not contain what somebody ordered. As a retired engineer who used a lot of very expensive and fancy electronics, I’m not all that impressed with algorithms. All they are is a mathematic expression set up to vary based on inputs.
But, the base set up of that expression will bias how the expression changes and functions or not.
If the variables are of the wrong values the expression would diverge rather than converge. In fact with a complex expression that divergence or convergence could happen to chunks of the expression further pushing the solution away from an ideal.
We see things like the SRB’s land on a barge or get grabbed as they land or those frightening robots jump around in boxes, but those are specifically programmed actions with carefully controlled boundaries.
The idea of customizing a shopping experience based on search engine choices could go off in any number of directions.
In Berkeley Fletchers algorithm I suspect a very basic age and gender bias, slightly tweaked by too heavily weighted rare searches.
These algorithms like those folks in this administration don’t think.
I tried to get an AI illustrator to replicate something that is real and exists and that I had searched images of multiple times. The more AI generated images I rejected the further the generator got from my expectation.
I attempted this exercise five different times over the course of two days. The images diverged widely from what I was after.
I think a lot of what we see is about as sophisticated as a gumball machine and not anything at all to do with AI.
Congrats! My audiobook should arrive just in time for the work commute next week. Definitely been looking forward to this one. If I weren't on call all next week I'd drive up for the book store event. We don't get that kind of cool stuff here in WV...