Passive Decisions

While not the same, it feels like putting on your local NPR station on the radio is like leaving it up to "the algorithm" to decide what music you listen to or videos you watch. Or maybe it’s more like watching whatever is on television. You are deciding not to decide. Streaming, at least, requires some level of choice— albeit a paradox of choice. That's where I'm at with podcasts, too. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of episodes I'm interested in— but which would I be most interested in, which would provide the most value, which would it be a real loss to miss out on. Leaving it up to what I think I'm in the mood for in the moment is both unsatisfying and seems like a copout. I know my mind is not made up— or rather my mind is entirely making up answers based on previous data. This is because our brains are biased predictive machines with limited bandwidth and a fondness for easy solutions. Our brains want to work less even if we want them to work hard to make decisions that feel important. Our brain doesn't think listening to the best possible podcast episode is a life or death situation so it takes shortcuts. On the other hand, algorithms don't care at all. They have zero skin in the game. So, what’s the move?

May/June 2024