General Discussion

The YouTube algorithms can clearly identify slop because I rarely see it on my YouTube homepage. Whenever it shows up I use the "don't recommend" option. I also don't see many political videos because I use the "not interested" option whenever those show up. This implies the algorithms can also identify users who are tolerant of slop and sell them bullshit.

Other than DU, social media doesn't exist in my world. ( I don't use YouTube as social media.) I've got the major social media sites and their subsidiary sites blacklisted. No Facebook, no Bluesky, no site-formerly-known-as-twitter, no TikTok, etc. They don't see me, I don't see them.

I block all advertising on the internet and on television, streaming or otherwise. I don't use Spotify or any other service like that. I don't use Microsoft, Apple, or Android products. My personal data is of no use to advertisers.

That's just a few of the things I do to insulate myself from this crap.

Regulating imitation intelligence will be tough. First of all I'd get it out of the classroom except as an object lesson for teaching critical thinking skills. It's also clear that it's a plagiarism machine, violating copyrights. When all is said and done, energy costs might make it unprofitable. The environmental costs are clearly unacceptable.