January 20, 2004

blogging the market

Blogging the algorithm
So, I'm reading this section of this paper and thought of something. First, I think this is very interesting work, in and of itself. Some of the prose is a little overwrought, but there are many good ideas contained within it. I know many people in various management positions would see the blog and this paper as somehow, subversive. I think my boss would hate it, so I made sure to send a link. You never know. They might get it.

Here is my thought. This idea of blogging bubbles seems to be a reasonable analog basis for an optimization algorithm. Similar to a genetic algorithm, but instead of one fitness function there are multiple functions. As the bubble grows from thoughts, to results, to connections, to patterns, the fitness evaluation changes at different levels. Rough outlines, but I think that you could formalize this.

The outcome might be interesting. In much the same way that bubbles are often "false" (i.e., urban legends), the results of the algorithm may be less than optimal. You could calculate urban legends yourself. Is perception reality? Would a social blogging based algorithm result in a different perception? One that isn't true, but has some sort of social value? Do urban legends have social value? Are they cautionary tales for controlling the behavior of youths or the masses?

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