Medium and the human fight against algorithms
According to Google, there are nearly 129 million books in the world. If we read one book a day, it will take us 350,000 years to finish reading. Even if only 1% of it is exceptional, we still need 3500 years to read and complete this amazing collection of human knowledge and experience.
Yet we keep creating new content. Content that is in most cases, mediocre.
Most of the written content in Medium and other channels is a rehash of things that were said a 1000 times through Twitter, Facebook and other mediums digital and otherwise. We rewrite them as our own, and publish and promote them in every channel in a desperate bid for attention and recognition. How sad is it that, written word, once considered a pinnacle of human achievement is being wasted to gain individual attention? (Yes, I know, I do it too!)
Maybe it is because internet reduced social interactions, making us all needier of human attention and recognition through other means.
Internet was propositioned as the medium that brought down the walls, gave unprecedented access to information and improved human life. But in the last 15 years, human conflict has been increasing. Inequality, even in the “greatest” nation of this world, America, has been steadily rising. The US has become a nation where people scramble for minimum wage jobs. When people work at McDonalds, it is not a world transformed by information access. If you view the world in terms of real change, internet has failed spectacularly, at least as of now. That’s partly because we have been using internet mostly to hide our deficiencies, protect our insecurities and improve convenience of the already comfortable. And partly because it’s not a flawless, unbiased system.
Wasn’t the internet created so that we can all express our opinions? Hmm, only sorta. Everything that wants to be said, isn’t worth saying. Internet was created by humans and it carries all the bias, restrictions and flaws like other mediums. If anything it amplifies them.
The enormous growth in web 2.0 created so much content that it was not easier to access anymore. So we created smarter algorithms to filter and promote content that is relevant. These algorithms are immature, prioritize our short term rewards and give us what we want to hear.
Zuckerberg once famously said,
A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.
This is the world of internet and its algorithms. A biased system, that works well for capitalism. But not for human intellect. When we get exactly what we want to hear, all we get is a big filter bubble that limits us to a narrow view of the world. And to be fair, the web/internet was created for access to information, not access to quality information.
So when we keep writing on topics like self-help, listicles, life hacks and the like, we are not only rehashing the stuff that has been said a 1000 times before, but also denying access to quality content. And at a spiritual level, we are denying people from actually getting better, by feeding them content that really adds no value.
As long as the algorithms are flawed and humans are driven by short terms needs, here is a small thing I request all of us to do.
Think deeply and passionately about the stuff you would like to write. Let it ruminate in your mind for a while.
Write for yourself, but publish for others. Before you publish, do a quick search on Google and make sure that the content adds something new to the topic.
Bring it some color, bring your trials and tribulations and represent them honestly. Vulnerability is an asset, but only when it is accompanied by honesty.
Write about topics that do not get adequate voice. (That excludes everything related to VCs, startups, hipsters, success and billionaires. It probably excludes most of first world white male issues/goals, but not always. It is just that it is an over-represented category.).
Read books, articles and stories that you do not usually read. Read a lot, think a lot, write a little. It will help you expand your mind as well.
It is our responsibility to make this world a better place. It requires sacrificing a little bit of comfort. So, publish half of what you write. Because remember there are already nearly 129 million books in this world. They are crying for a voice. They need to be heard. Give them a lending hand.
