What happened to The End?

I know you just started reading this.

But imagine for a second that you have scrolled to the end of this article.

Craving more, you see a suggested list of three articles to read next.

Have you ever wondered what happens, if you were to keep following these recommendations over and over, for say a dozen steps?

Alright, technically you won't find that on this blog. In fact, there are a lot of 'features' you wouldn't find in this minimally designed blog.

But most other websites you find these days, the big players at least, have this 'endless feature'. If it's not a list of suggested things you can click on to read next, then it's an endless scrolling feed.

Whatever happened to a good ol' 'The End'?

I just listened to two Ted Radio Hour podcasts on Quiet and Unintended Consequences. I actually dozed off on the Unintended Consequences one, but there was this part which sort of got into my dream. Algorithms gone rogue. Somehow I woke up near the end of the podcast, with a cold sweat.

Like, I don't even know where to start. I've seen little kids being left to their devices while their parents eat in a restaurant. To think that you can start of somewhere cute and end up with something... atrocious... is just wrong on so many levels.

It is something I am consciously trying to grapple with. As a blog content producer, and also as a researcher who designs algorithms, I need to be acutely aware of these unintended consequences.

I naively believe that ethics approval isn't required for my applied Artificial Intelligence research into Antarctic datasets. My supervisor thinks so too, that Antarctic research is a nice little bubble of scientific heaven, but I wonder if we've given it enough thought. The ideas which I am putting out there, the technology making up my work, could they be used for wrong deeds?

I definitely think that we, as part of the human species, can do better.

Yes, my time is stretched. But if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it properly.

Acknowledging our biases and assumptions is hard, but it is a good start. Merely stating them however, is not quite enough. You need to design something that can stop that bias from having a mind of its own.

A killswitch.

Anyone can create something, be it an algorithm, a blog, or some other creative work that can be used by others. In fact, it's not just humans that can create things now, there are machines/robots that can create realistic images, music, writing, even videos!

There is an idiom - "Nip in the bud"

Before the bias takes off with a life of its own, you need to stop it. Yes, this is the intentional opposite of going viral.

The ease at which we can do something nowadays is staggering. Instead of sailboats taking months to ship your spices from the Far East, you can do online delivery and get it the next day. Literally, someone can stay at home all day, ordering pizza delivery for nutrition, but that won't be very healthy would it?

We should give others convenience, but we also need to understand how to limit it. Having something a few clicks away is great for last minute Christmas shopping, but not for everyday shopping! Everything in moderation as they say.

My challenge is technically simple but fundamentally hard - create a self destruct button.

Each of my posts here on this blog deliberately ends when it ends. There is no 'Read this Next', no comments section, not even a footer! It's not like I didn't think about making it easier to navigate either, I did.

But I thought the back button would suffice. Or you could scroll back up to the very top and click on 'Home'. Yes yes, you can thank me for having a post list at least.

No RSS feed, no email subscription. No ads being served, or any javascript for that matter. Like, why do I even need to mention what's missing? It's not like I'm apologetic about it anyway.

Sometimes, you need to just leave it at that. Have a gap that can be filled rather than a totally filled gap.

When I've finished watching a good movie in the cinema, especially if I'm alone, I quite like watching the credits roll on. You sit back in the cozy chair, contemplating on the message the movie was trying to convey.

Once you're done reflecting, you head out into the world again, a twinkle in your eye, wondering how your outlook on life has changed because of it.

I'd like this blog to have that effect.

The End.