Discovery
Oct 8, 2024
About a week ago, Andrej Karpathy tweeted something that resonated deeply with me. He pointed out a significant issue with the YouTube feed: it's lossy for users like him. Despite the vast amount of content available, the platform tends to focus on popular videos, making it challenging to discover channels or videos with a high "insight per minute" metric. In other words, the most valuable and informative content often gets buried under a flood of sensational or entertainment-focused videos.
This got me thinking about how social media platforms, particularly YouTube, are designed. For many users, these platforms work exceptionally well. If you're looking to unwind, have a laugh, or be passively entertained, the algorithms excel at keeping you engaged. They serve up an endless stream of amusing or captivating content tailored to your immediate reactions.
However, for those of us who are goal-driven—or even during the moments when we shift our focus from amusement to personal growth—the current system falls short. The algorithms are designed to show you more of what you've already seen or interacted with, perpetuating a loop of similar content. But when you've already absorbed certain information, seeing more of the same isn't helpful. You're looking to build upon that knowledge, to find new pieces that complete the puzzle in your mind.
What we need is a system that understands our goals and actively helps us achieve them. A platform that doesn't just serve up more of the same, but instead digs deep to find content that's contextually relevant and advances our understanding.
Personally, I've developed workarounds to navigate this limitation. On Twitter, for instance, I've curated a list of people whose insights I find valuable. When I'm seeking information related to my work, I search for keywords within the tweets of those I follow. Often, I stumble upon gems—tweets that offer profound insights or novel perspectives relevant to my goals.
I employ a similar strategy on YouTube and other media platforms. Instead of relying on the algorithmically generated feed, I perform targeted searches, digging deeper to find content that aligns with what I'm trying to achieve. But this manual process is time-consuming and inefficient.
Imagine if an agent could understand our specific goals and sift through the vast sea of content to find exactly what we need. It would require a paradigm shift in how content discovery works—a move from passive consumption to active facilitation of our objectives.
Such an agent would not only save time but also enhance the quality of information we consume. It would help us connect disparate pieces of knowledge, drawing from various fields and disciplines to provide insights that might otherwise remain hidden. By doing so, it would support us in continuously building and refining our worldview.
This approach acknowledges that we aren't always on these platforms for amusement. Often, we're there to learn, to grow, and to find information that propels us forward. Repetitive content doesn't serve this purpose; it hinders it.
In a world overflowing with information, the real value lies in relevance and depth, not just in popularity or engagement metrics. As users, we need tools that respect our time and intellectual pursuits, guiding us toward content that enriches rather than distracts.
It's time for platforms to evolve beyond the current algorithmic models that prioritize engagement over enrichment. By integrating our goals into the content discovery process, we can transform these platforms into true allies in our quest for knowledge.