There is a family resemblance with the way something like Twitter is set up. There are a few differences:
Their algorithm seems to do a lot of things, some which seem to point in this direction, and a lot that points in other directions. The aim of their algorithm is not to rank information based on the graph of your likes, but to use likes and everything else to maximize time spent.
EigenKarma allows you to port your trust graph between different communities, if they are connected.
You can control what you do with the information in your trust graph, ie how you use that to inform algorithmic decisions, like rank ordering content.
When you like a tweet, it is a more public-facing act. You can pile on with your tribe liking a particular message to push the algorithm to spread it. An upvote in EigenKarma is a more private act: it is an update of your personal trust graph. It will affect the trust graphs of people who trust you, but mainly indirectly, in how it affects future processes that rely on their trust graph.
Though I should add, that the way it is set up on the Discord bot, you can see what people upvote.
How does this affect the formation of bubbles? I’m not sure. My guess is that it should reduce some of the incentives that drive the tribe-forming behaviors at Twitter.
I’m also not sure that bubbles are a massive problem, especially for the types of communities that would realistically be integrated into the system. This last point is loosely held, and I invited strong criticism, and it is something we are paying attention to as we run trials with larger groups. You could combine EigenKarma with other types of designs that counteract these problems if they are severe (though I haven’t worked through that idea deeply).
tbh I feel like too much exposure to the bottom 50% of outgroup content is the main thing driving polarisation on twitter and it seems to me that EAs are the sort of people to upvote/promote the outgroup content that’s actually good
in general I feel like worries about social media bubbles are overstated. if people on the EA forum split into factions which think little enough of each other that people end up in bubbles I feel like this means we should split up into different movements.
There is a family resemblance with the way something like Twitter is set up. There are a few differences:
Their algorithm seems to do a lot of things, some which seem to point in this direction, and a lot that points in other directions. The aim of their algorithm is not to rank information based on the graph of your likes, but to use likes and everything else to maximize time spent.
EigenKarma allows you to port your trust graph between different communities, if they are connected.
You can control what you do with the information in your trust graph, ie how you use that to inform algorithmic decisions, like rank ordering content.
When you like a tweet, it is a more public-facing act. You can pile on with your tribe liking a particular message to push the algorithm to spread it. An upvote in EigenKarma is a more private act: it is an update of your personal trust graph. It will affect the trust graphs of people who trust you, but mainly indirectly, in how it affects future processes that rely on their trust graph.
Though I should add, that the way it is set up on the Discord bot, you can see what people upvote.
How does this affect the formation of bubbles? I’m not sure. My guess is that it should reduce some of the incentives that drive the tribe-forming behaviors at Twitter.
I’m also not sure that bubbles are a massive problem, especially for the types of communities that would realistically be integrated into the system. This last point is loosely held, and I invited strong criticism, and it is something we are paying attention to as we run trials with larger groups. You could combine EigenKarma with other types of designs that counteract these problems if they are severe (though I haven’t worked through that idea deeply).
tbh I feel like too much exposure to the bottom 50% of outgroup content is the main thing driving polarisation on twitter and it seems to me that EAs are the sort of people to upvote/promote the outgroup content that’s actually good
in general I feel like worries about social media bubbles are overstated. if people on the EA forum split into factions which think little enough of each other that people end up in bubbles I feel like this means we should split up into different movements.