I’ve been wanting to write a bit about voting vs providing feedback for awhile. I’ll try a little bit here.
Voting is mostly in the business of emotions while commenting is mostly in the business of rationality. Most people vote with their emotions, which is extremely hackable (marketing, political campaigning, etc.). Some vote with rationality, but you wouldn’t know which is which because it’s just a vote and most people operate mostly on the emotional level, or at least it’s the first level of response that the person experiences.
If you go on most social media sites, you will see most people also comment based on their emotions. They will read a statistical statement, and then they will start commenting “I blah blah blah...” This phenomenon says a lot about the nature of voting if the same people commenting are also the same people voting.
If you have nothing of substance and value to offer, voting is a way for your “voice” to be heard. It gives the user a sense of agency and promotes engagement on the platform. This is why old forums are dead and lack perpetual engagement compared to the more modern forms of social media.
I wonder if in the long term this type of ingrained mechanism will devolve society into gamification mess. Based on the current trend of technological development and its role in the statistical nature of social engagement in the digital age, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of jobs that AGI replaces will end up being some form of gamification based on the agency of the ego while the AI serves its role as a form of an umpire.
I’ve been wanting to write a bit about voting vs providing feedback for awhile. I’ll try a little bit here.
Voting is mostly in the business of emotions while commenting is mostly in the business of rationality. Most people vote with their emotions, which is extremely hackable (marketing, political campaigning, etc.). Some vote with rationality, but you wouldn’t know which is which because it’s just a vote and most people operate mostly on the emotional level, or at least it’s the first level of response that the person experiences.
If you go on most social media sites, you will see most people also comment based on their emotions. They will read a statistical statement, and then they will start commenting “I blah blah blah...” This phenomenon says a lot about the nature of voting if the same people commenting are also the same people voting.
If you have nothing of substance and value to offer, voting is a way for your “voice” to be heard. It gives the user a sense of agency and promotes engagement on the platform. This is why old forums are dead and lack perpetual engagement compared to the more modern forms of social media.
I wonder if in the long term this type of ingrained mechanism will devolve society into gamification mess. Based on the current trend of technological development and its role in the statistical nature of social engagement in the digital age, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of jobs that AGI replaces will end up being some form of gamification based on the agency of the ego while the AI serves its role as a form of an umpire.