Tag Archive: will’s an instigator


On the Online Filter Bubble

Filed Under: Random by timpaik — 1 Comment
May 18, 2011

Hello to anyone who still reads this blog. As you might have noticed, this blog has taken a backseat to pretty much everything in my life. But then I got comments from Stephanie Yu and Sam Chen, so here I am again. I’m that easy.

Don’t really have anything fun to talk about these days, so I’ll go with something serious. If you’re new here, trust me, I don’t usually do write about this kind of stuff.

…

I watched this video online yesterday, and it kind of bothered me. It’s nine minutes long, and I understand that that’s a lot of time these days, so I’ll try to sum it up for you.

It starts with an exchange between a reporter and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. The reporter is taking a look at Facebook’s news feed, and asks Mark Zuckerberg, “Why is this so important?” The dude has a point. I love reading my wall, but it’s not what you would call “essential.” For every post telling me that someone’s gotten engaged or had a kid, there’s ten posts filled with videos or photos of cats.

Quoth the Zuckerberg:

A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.

It’s an incredibly cold thing to say. The scary thing is that it’s true.

The video goes on to explain that Web companies have started to personalize the pages that we peruse on the Internet. For example, Facebook has a filter that shows us the most relevant news items. Netflix and Amazon have algorithms that show us the movies and items that we would probably be most interested. Great. Saves us time, right?

But apparently this is happening with Google. Turns out, Google’s search results are personalized to you too. If I search for “basketball”, I will get different results from when Joe Sixpack in Alaska searches for “basketball.” In this case, I doubt Joe would get the link that I get for purchasing San Diego State basketball tickets.

Still, this doesn’t seem so bad. I really am interested in San Diego State basketball tickets (as long as they stay good). Why am I so worried about this?

The problem is when we merge these two facts:

  1. Web pages are becoming personalized to me.
  2. In my spare time, I like to look at funny pictures of cats.

 

 

…

Basically, the Internet is starting to pander to us, a society that cares more about the dying squirrels in front of us than the dying people in the world. And by doing so, it is effectively filtering out all the stuff that doesn’t already fit our own comfortable, predefined worldviews. Which is scary. We disparage the Internet censorship that happens in other countries all the time. Well, as it turns out, we’re also being censored. By our own stupidity.

I think what bothers me the most is that there’s no one in this situation that I can blame other than myself. I can’t blame Google or Yahoo News (yeah, the news are getting personalized too!), since it’s my own choices that define what I see. If I click on links to games more than I click on world stories, well, it’s my own fault if I just get more games in my searches, right? I guess I could get mad at them for using those algorithms to “help” me, but oh wait, those algorithms are what I’m studying in college.  Oops.

I dunno. I think I might be overreacting, since I can still get to the news I want to. (I think.) But it’s frightening to see some of the results. In the talk, the dude has two examples that kind of scared me. The first is where a guy types “Egypt” into Google, and doesn’t get a single link to a news story about the protests while they’re going on. The second is in Facebook, where eventually, all the conservative viewpoints disappeared from the speaker’s wall since he clicked on their links less often than the liberal ones. I think we’d kick up some controversy if this happened elsewhere, right?

…

Well, I’m done. Sorry to come back with such a downer. I know I’m starting to get on my high horse once I start using words like “society.”

-Tim

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Turning 26 Post

Filed Under: Random by timpaik — 4 Comments
March 29, 2011

I turned 26 a month ago.  And I gotta tell you, it kinda stunk.  Not the birthday itself: that was awesome.  Basketball + all you can eat Korean BBQ = win.  Rather, it was the first time in my life I actively didn’t look forward to my birthday.  Before I turned 18, my birthday was like another Christmas.  Turning 18 was awesome since it felt like I was becoming an adult (even if I wasn’t).  20 was awesome, since I was entering a new decade.  21 was awesome because I could finally legally gamble (and I never did afterward…)

Even 25 wasn’t all that bad, since I felt like I was entering the prime of my life.  But now I’m 26, and I’m officially closer to 30 than 20.  I’m old.

And yes, I know, I’m not really that old.  And I apologize, since it kind of stinks to hear younger people complain that they’re old.  Collegians complain to me about their age all the time, and all I want to do is slap them upside the head.  Rule of thumb: if you’re younger than me, you’re not old.  Unless you’re Joo.

But the thing that really makes me feel old is that my parents tried to set me up for the first time.  Of course, my parents are my parents; they weren’t really blatant about it.  My dad and I were on IM, and it went something like this:

Dad: Hey, there’s this girl that we want you to meet.

Me: Wait, are you trying to set me up?

Dad: No, we just want you to meet her.  You know, e-mail, and if anything happens, well…

Me: You’re totally trying to set me up!  Thanks, but it’s OK.

Dad: Don’t you want to know anything about her?

Me: It’s OK.  I mean, is she even Christian?

Dad: Actually, yes.

Me: Oh.  Well, is she cute (delete delete) it’s OK, I don’t really wanna be set up.

Dad: OK, well, if that’s what you want.

I don’t really know why I have such a bias against being set up.  Part of it is that I feel like it just shouldn’t happen that way.  I feel like it should start organically, say with a chance meeting outside of an elevator.  Our attraction will be immediate, but unspoken.  After a series of zany misunderstandings, we’ll realize that we’re meant for each other, and…I have GOT to stop watching romantic comedies.

But I think the main issue is my pride more than anything.  I know it’s wrong, but the first thing I wanted to say to my dad was, “What, you don’t think I can find a girl on my own?”  And that’s completely not the point.  And even if it was, it’s not like I have girls knocking down my door right now.  The last time a girl approached me was a couple years ago.  I remember because it was when Andrew Kim came to visit me.  Or more accurately, Susan came to visit Heidi.  It must have been just after Black Friday, because I remember wearing this grey Gap sweatshirt that I had bought for $5.  (Andrew: Nice, Tim.  Bringing back the 1980s!)

Anyway, we decided to take Andrew and Susan over to Hash House for breakfast, since it felt like a good part of SD to show off.  We were told that there would be a 15 minute wait, which we had come prepared for.  So we wandered off a bit so that we could talk for a bit.  After about five minutes, the girl comes over to our group, looks me straight in the eye, and says, “Here, let me do something for you.”

My first reaction is to look behind me to see who she’s really talking to.  (A lifetime of being around/living with other Tims has trained me to look around before responding.)  But to my amazement, there is no one behind me.

So I turn back around, and I realize that the girl is walking uncomfortably close to me.  And the fight-or-flight adrenaline is kicking in.  I mean this literally.  In my freshman year of college, I got slapped in the butt when I was standing in the cafeteria line.  My first impulse was to turn around and get into a ninja defensive stance so I can fight off…the girl with the mortified look on her face, stammering, “Sorry, I thought you were someone else” before slinking off.

Fortunately, this time, I am in enough control of my facilities that I don’t ninja chop her.  But I can’t really figure out what she wants either, so I just freeze.  And she’s just getting closer, and closer…and she reaches her hand out…touches my sweatshirt…and rips the “M M M M M M M” sticker that I had forgotten to peel off.

We had all been quiet while she was approaching, but then Andrew has to break the silence with this: “Man, if you were better looking, we wouldn’t have to wait another 10 minutes.”  Yeah, I know, Andrew.  Shush.

…

Well, enough of that.  Hopefully I’ll be updating more frequently…until I don’t.

-Tim

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On Criticizing Everything

Filed Under: Random by timpaik — 3 Comments
September 7, 2010

A few years back, I was talking to my sister (or trying to, anyway)…it went something like this:

Tim: So what are you listening to these days?

Rachel: Don’t want to tell you.

Tim: What?  Why not?

Rachel: You’ll just tell me that it sucks.

Tim: What?  No, I won’t.

Tim’s internal voice: Oh man, I do that, don’t I?  I really have to stop being so critical.

Rachel: Fine.  I’m listening to Linkin Park’s Reanimation.

Tim: Really?  I didn’t really like…(voice dying out)

Tim’s internal voice: Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap

I remember this conversation because it’s the first time I actively tried to stop being so critical.  I’ve made efforts on and off since then, but in general, it’s been a losing battle.

Here’s my defense of being a critic: we need gradations in life to appreciate that which is truly elite.  It’d be great if we lived in a world where everyone deserved A’s, but we don’t.  Some work is just better than other work.  Some food is simply better than other food.  Examples: Kim Yuna’s figure skating performance > everyone else’s.  Ruth’s Chris > McDonald’s.  Warriors > …Timberwolves.  (Knew there was SOMEone).

I’m not saying that we need to start making lists and comparing everything to everything else (outside of predetermined competitions, anyway).  I’m just saying that sometimes, there is a clear difference in quality between objects.  And I think it’s fair to make those assessments.  But at the same time, I know that I am but one man, and thus I make qualifications to my comparisons.  For example, you might say that Kobe is better than LeBron, (I still don’t think so) but no matter who you are, you have to admit the difference is slight at best.  On the other hand, if you even start comparing Kobe to Michael Jordan, you’re crazy.

The-Greatest-of-All-Time

Case closed.

So that’s why I believe that it’s OK to be a critic.  The problem is when we become critical, or at least overly so.  We start nitpicking at tiny flaws instead of appreciating the overall picture.

Now my problem is twofold.  The first, I find, is common to many of us critics.  Namely, we talk over our heads.  We criticize before we actually know what’s what.  We do so because by being critical, we make the implicit statement: Oh, this bunk might be good enough for you, but not for one of my superior knowledge and delicacy.  If only you had my experience, then you would see. I’m trying to curb this attitude as soon as I detect it starting to surface…so if you think I’m starting to get all big-headed, please tell me so.

The second problem I have is that the field in which I am most often critical (music) is one where 1) I really am not an expert and 2) there really often is no right answer.  For example, some time ago, I wrote that I intensely dislike Colbie Caillat’s song Bubbly.  Then this exchange happened in Mike Chung’s car:

Mike: So why don’t you like that song?  That’s kind of harsh; she prides herself on her songwriting.

Tim: It’s a lazy song.  The rhymes are lazy, the melody’s lazy, the idea’s lazy…there’s nothing new or original about the song.  She might as well have not written anything and saved us some time.

(Aside: I still believe this is all true…OK, the last sentence is sorta harsh.  But I think I’ve finally got a hold on why I dislike the song so much: it’s because the gap between the song’s quality and popularity was so immense.  I said this once about Hey There, Delilah…and I think the same principle applies: if my friend had written Bubbly, I think I’d be proud of her.  But I feel that the song is not good enough to justify how many times it got played on the radio.)

[Paramore's The Only Exception comes on the radio.]

Tim: Oh, I like this song.

Mike: Really? I don’t even know what it’s about.  What do you like about this song?

Tim: Well, it’s about a girl, and how she never believed in love, but then this guy is the only exception…*breaks off*

Mike: *starts laughing* You just realized how stupid you sounded, huh?

Tim: *trying to decide if I hate myself or Mike more*

Yes, I realize, at the end of the day, music is music.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.  (For example, I like Paramore, otherwise known as the band that did the Twilight song.  DON’T JUDGE ME.)  There really are no right answers.  Most people will agree that steak is better than McDonald’s.  But bring up a song like Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling, and you can’t get a consensus on whether it’s a good or bad song.  (It’s atrocious, by the way.)

So why do I insist on making snarky comments on others’ tastes, when there really are no right answers?  Well…I’m trying not to.  But it’s not easy.  But I think that if everyone has their right to opinion, allow me to have my opinion on what constitutes bad music.  And I will try not to rag too much on your tastes.  Unless you like Bubbly or I Gotta Feeling.  Or Paper Planes.  Or…

-Tim

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On the Attractiveness of Significant Others

Filed Under: Random by timpaik — 4 Comments
August 2, 2010

I just read this on Google Buzz:

Nathanael Chang – Buzz – Public

My coworker saw a picture of Janet on my blackberry, grabbed it to take a closer look, and was like “Damn! She cute!”

(Nate’s with Janet.)

This recalled to mind a brief moment I had with Will back when he was still unmarried.  I can’t remember exactly WHO he asked was attractive, but the lady in question was with someone.  (Yes, he was trying to make me awkward and uncomfortable.)

For once, I had a quick reply on hand: “Dude, you can’t ask me that.  How would you feel if I started talking about Kathy?”

Sadly, Will is never caught off-guard.  After a millisecond, he was like, “I’d be happy.  Of course I want people thinking that Kathy’s attractive.”

Thinking about it right now, I suppose I would want people to think my girlfriend was attractive.  Maybe.  But I’m pretty sure I don’t want Joe Smith to be talking about her to my face about her either.  Unless Joe was short for Josephine.  Or really old/young.

After all, what do you gain if people think he/she is attractive?  Not much.  I guess you can flip the question around and say what do you lose by other people saying she’s cute…but…I dunno, I get the feeling I’d be slightly annoyed.

Of course, what do I know? =)  I thought I had more to say, but I think I’d know more if I actually, you know, had a girlfriend.  And then I’d never talk about it. =)

-Tim

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