[HN Gopher] From context collapse to content collapse
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       From context collapse to content collapse
        
       Author : pmlnr
       Score  : 35 points
       Date   : 2022-04-07 11:20 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.roughtype.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.roughtype.com)
        
       | fullshark wrote:
       | previous discussion:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23732384
        
       | daralthus wrote:
       | - context collapse: different personal identities collapse onto
       | one social media
       | 
       | - content collapse: different mediums (tv, radio, newspaper)
       | collapse onto a feed
       | 
       | - reality collapse: different forms of content, fictional or real
       | collapse onto a single stream: propaganda, marvel universe,
       | GPT-3, Dall-E, etc.
       | 
       | Could be a nice sci-fi theme.
        
         | Ialdaboth wrote:
         | A nice sci-fi theme sure, but one of the the worst choices
         | possible to build a resilient society.
        
       | afry1 wrote:
       | That part about information being condensed down into a tiny form
       | factor (a smartphone screen) hits hard as a frontend web
       | developer:
       | 
       | > The diminutive size of the device's screen further compacted
       | all forms of information. The instant notifications and infinite
       | scrolls that became the phone's default design standards required
       | that all information be rendered in a way that could be taken in
       | at a glance, further blurring the old distinctions between types
       | of content.
       | 
       | I've really struggled with this concept when building out apps
       | and tools that have to fit in the form factor of a smartphone.
       | Some things are just too complicated or too nuanced to express
       | with little buttons on a little screen.
       | 
       | Sometimes it's an interesting constraint to work within, but more
       | often than not I feel like I'm leaving so much on the table when
       | it comes to functionality and usability.
        
         | redmen wrote:
         | I too feel this deeply. Sometimes I think our phones have given
         | much more power to the companies that have the algorithms,
         | since there is less space for anything, which means companies
         | that can create a good touchscreen keyboard, or a search bar,
         | etc are the ones who win, not the ones who build a deeper
         | experience. Everything is hidden away from us.
         | 
         | I also sometimes think that this is another reason our phones
         | are making us dumber and more fragile. We have become used to
         | having everything done for us.
        
         | kevmo314 wrote:
         | I absolutely love this constraint and I believe this is where
         | all the complexity of frontend derives from. When I hear
         | someone believe that frontend is easy, which nowadays is not as
         | common, I always think yeah maybe on an infinite-dimensional
         | canvas it's easy. It definitely can feel like I have to leave
         | something on the table but the real trick is understanding
         | which pieces of functionality are okay to leave out. :)
        
       | redmen wrote:
       | I think startups taking over the world was a very dangerous and
       | naive idea. We have essentially created singular points of
       | failure. I wonder if globalization is similar in that it can make
       | our system more fragile.
       | 
       | There has to be some sort of balance. There is good and bad in
       | globalization. Good and bad in having only 1 or 2 companies that
       | control the entire world.
       | 
       | Can you imagine if every single person in the world spoke the
       | same language and had the same cultures? Maybe then there would
       | be even greater homogeny.
        
       | jdrc wrote:
       | I 'm surprised sociologists would take Zuck's words seriously. I
       | ve watched him in interviews and in his own podcasts and he
       | doesn't sound like having any kind of sophisticated worldview.
       | The 'context collapse' more likely has to do with the fact that,
       | from an algorithmic point of view, all news fit in the same data
       | format, and nobody cared to introduce context. Or they introduced
       | it in a wrong way (like Google+ did with circles). In the end,
       | context reappeared in the form of separate social networks
       | (linkedin, slack, twitter etc) so it s probably all good
        
         | redmen wrote:
         | I think he enjoys living in his own bubble and justifies to
         | himself that his work is important. It takes a massive ego to
         | convince oneself that they can do no wrong
        
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       (page generated 2022-04-07 23:00 UTC)