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Acapulco Climate Eli Pariser Episode Facebook Filter Bubble Google Hurricane Otis Meta Spotify TikTok WSUM YouTube

TMI 10/27/2023 – Filter Bubble Redux: How Pariser’s Predictions Fell Short of the Real Outcome, Hurricane Otis Punctuates Release of New Climate Crisis Report, more

Back near the beginning of TMI with Aldous Tyler in 2010, we reported on Eli Pariser’s Ted Talk that introduced the world to the “Filter Bubble”. This phenomenon, he said, was caused by Google’s search algorithms, which would selectively feed you results similar to ones you had interacted with before. That would cause your Google searches to no longer match anyone else’s, and would feed you ideas you agreed with far more than those that would challenge your beliefs. Fast forward to today, and his predictions that this “echo chamber” effect could negatively impact society seem far too mild. We discuss how TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, Meta’s platforms and many others have stanched the flow of ideas and how to fight back.

Then, as I was preparing to tell you about the latest report from scientists on the climate, noting that we may very well have gone past several tipping points, Hurricane Otis became a demonstration of how we are in unknown territory by unprecedently ramping up from a weak tropical storm to a 165 MPH monster Category 5 hurricane in roughly 24 hours, slamming into the Acapulco area with no warning to evacuate the million-plus people there. We discuss how this alarming development might become the new normal. All that and more on TMI for Friday, October 27, 2023 – get YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

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Episode Music Pop Culture Spotify WSUM

TMI 03/26/2021 – Music Makers are Being Swept Downstream (full episode analysis)

Once upon a time in Melodia, one would dream of putting together a band, playing somewhere that would get you noticed by someone who would call up someone else to come see you play elsewhere, and suddenly you had a contract with a record label, a musical industry conglomerate who would promise you fame and fortune. Maybe something would come of the radio airplay you gained from it, or the tours you would go on, or your second or third album, but eventually you’d be known from London to Topeka, Tokyo to Sydney, or so the dream went. The labels were happy to sop up as much of that money as their deceptive contracts allowed them to, of course, and if you never got signed, you likely wound up working in an office somewhere while your guitar made friends with the spiders in the attic. Things often didn’t end up rosy.

Now, you don’t have to rely on the labels! You can make your music at home and stream it on Spotify, create a little YouTube video to go with it and get the ad revenue from the views – an exciting prospect to be sure. That is, until you find out how many thousands or even millions of times your music can be heard/seen without you seeing any notable income at all! We examine the history of the music industry, its transformation into the streaming era, and how many new musicians are feeling swept… downstream! All this and more on TMI for Friday March 26, 2021 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!