You’re right: A system like that could be genetically evolved for optimization.
On the other hand, I was hoping to create an open optimization algorithm, governable by the community at large… based on their influence scores in the field of “online influence governance.” So the community would have to notice abuse and gaming of the system, and modify policy (as expressed in the algorithm, in the network rules, in laws and regulations and in social mores) to respond to it. Kind of like democracy: Make a good set of rules for collaborative rule-making, give it to the people, and hope they don’t break it.
But of course the Huns could take over. I’m trusting us to protect ourselves. In some way this would be poetic justice: If crowds can’t be wise, even when given a chance to select and filter among the members for wisdom, then I’ll give up on bootstrapping humanity and wait patiently for the singularity. Until then, though, I’d like to see how far we could go if given a useful tool for collaboration, and left to our own devices.
I think you are closer to a strong solution than you realize. You have mentioned the pieces but I think you haven’t put them together yet. In short, the solution I see is to depend on local (individual) decisions rather than group ones. If each node has its own ranking algorithm and its own set of trust relations, there is no reason to create complex group-cooperation mechanisms. A user that spams gets negative feedback and therefore eventually gets isolated in the graph. Even if automated users outnumber real users, the best they can do is vote each other up and therefore end up with their own cluster of the network, with real users only strongly connected to each other. Of course, if a bot provides value, it can be incorporated in that graph. “sufficiently advanced spam...”, etc. etc. This also means that the graph splinters into various clusters depending on worldview. (your rush limbaugh example). This deals with keynesian beauty contests as there is no ‘average’ to aim at. Your values simply cluster you with people who share them. If you value quality, you go closer to quality. If you value ‘republican-ness’ you move closer to that. The price you pay is that there is no ‘objective’ view of the system. There is no ‘top 10 articles’, only ‘top 10 articles for user X’.
Another thing I see with your design is that it is complex and attempts to boil at least a few oceans. (emergent ontologies/folksonomies for one, distributing identity, storage, etc.). I have some experience with defining complex architectures for distributed systems (e.g. http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.2485 ) and the problem is that they need years of work by many people to reach some theoretical purity, and even then bootstrapping will be a bitch. The system I have in mind is extremely simple by comparison, definitely more pragmatic (and therefore makes compromises) and is based on established web technologies. As a result, it should bootstrap itself quite easily. I find myself not wanting to publicly share the full details until I can start working on the thing (I am currently writing up my PhD thesis and my deadline is Oct. 1. After that, I’m focusing on this project). If you want to talk more details, we should probably take this to a private discussion.
You are right: This needs to be a fully decentralized system, with no center, and processing happening at the nodes. I was conceiving of “regional” aggregates mostly as a guess as to what may relieve network congestion if every node calls out to thousands of others.
Thank you for setting me right: My thinking has been so influenced by over a decade of web app dev that I’m still working on integrating the full principles of decentralized systems.
As for boiling oceans… I wish you were wrong, but you probably are right. Some of these architectures are likely to be enormously hard to fine-tune for effectiveness. At the same time, I am also hoping to piggyback on existing standards and systems.
You’re right: A system like that could be genetically evolved for optimization.
On the other hand, I was hoping to create an open optimization algorithm, governable by the community at large… based on their influence scores in the field of “online influence governance.” So the community would have to notice abuse and gaming of the system, and modify policy (as expressed in the algorithm, in the network rules, in laws and regulations and in social mores) to respond to it. Kind of like democracy: Make a good set of rules for collaborative rule-making, give it to the people, and hope they don’t break it.
But of course the Huns could take over. I’m trusting us to protect ourselves. In some way this would be poetic justice: If crowds can’t be wise, even when given a chance to select and filter among the members for wisdom, then I’ll give up on bootstrapping humanity and wait patiently for the singularity. Until then, though, I’d like to see how far we could go if given a useful tool for collaboration, and left to our own devices.
I think you are closer to a strong solution than you realize. You have mentioned the pieces but I think you haven’t put them together yet. In short, the solution I see is to depend on local (individual) decisions rather than group ones. If each node has its own ranking algorithm and its own set of trust relations, there is no reason to create complex group-cooperation mechanisms. A user that spams gets negative feedback and therefore eventually gets isolated in the graph. Even if automated users outnumber real users, the best they can do is vote each other up and therefore end up with their own cluster of the network, with real users only strongly connected to each other. Of course, if a bot provides value, it can be incorporated in that graph. “sufficiently advanced spam...”, etc. etc. This also means that the graph splinters into various clusters depending on worldview. (your rush limbaugh example). This deals with keynesian beauty contests as there is no ‘average’ to aim at. Your values simply cluster you with people who share them. If you value quality, you go closer to quality. If you value ‘republican-ness’ you move closer to that. The price you pay is that there is no ‘objective’ view of the system. There is no ‘top 10 articles’, only ‘top 10 articles for user X’.
Another thing I see with your design is that it is complex and attempts to boil at least a few oceans. (emergent ontologies/folksonomies for one, distributing identity, storage, etc.). I have some experience with defining complex architectures for distributed systems (e.g. http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.2485 ) and the problem is that they need years of work by many people to reach some theoretical purity, and even then bootstrapping will be a bitch. The system I have in mind is extremely simple by comparison, definitely more pragmatic (and therefore makes compromises) and is based on established web technologies. As a result, it should bootstrap itself quite easily. I find myself not wanting to publicly share the full details until I can start working on the thing (I am currently writing up my PhD thesis and my deadline is Oct. 1. After that, I’m focusing on this project). If you want to talk more details, we should probably take this to a private discussion.
You are right: This needs to be a fully decentralized system, with no center, and processing happening at the nodes. I was conceiving of “regional” aggregates mostly as a guess as to what may relieve network congestion if every node calls out to thousands of others.
Thank you for setting me right: My thinking has been so influenced by over a decade of web app dev that I’m still working on integrating the full principles of decentralized systems.
As for boiling oceans… I wish you were wrong, but you probably are right. Some of these architectures are likely to be enormously hard to fine-tune for effectiveness. At the same time, I am also hoping to piggyback on existing standards and systems.
Anyway, let’s certainly talk offline!