3 HN users recommended this talk3 months2019–2025score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN returns to it in discussions of algorithmic feeds, misinformation and parasocial relationships, as a clear and thoughtful talk.
Tom Scott's Royal Institution discourse on science communication in the age of social media, how recommendation algorithms shape popularity, and why view counts can matter more than truth. It includes a segment on parasocial relationships.
“did a really good segment on the parasocial relationship as part of his talk to the Royal Institution” (HN, 2022)
> Someone who can get pop-culture’s attention needs to do a fucking Ted Talk and explain why this is usually a bad idea. Tom Scott made a good attempt recently: [this video]
Tom Scott's talk on why algorithmic approaches to truth are a bad idea
Not without a certain amount of irony, everybody's parasocial internet friend Tom Scott did a really good segment on the parasocial relationship as part of his talk to the Royal Institution: [this video] I swear it's also a short video on its own somewhere, but neither Google nor I can find it today.
Good segment on parasocial relationships within Tom Scott's Royal Institution talk
Weird seeing this guy talking about Lego's after recently watching him speak at The Royal Institute about "There is No Algorithm for Truth"[0]. [0] [this video]
Tom Scott's Royal Institution talk on truth and algorithms
"Source of truth"? What the heck does that mean? Truth for whom? [this video] Dictionaries aren't for policing language. They describe how people use language, not the best and only way to use language. [link]
Tom Scott talk on truth, cited alongside a descriptivist view of dictionaries
> they share with a celebrity. That makes those people related [...] That phenomenon exists, whatever you decide to call it. Some call it this: [link] A deep link to a Tom Scott video about it: [this video] What gp (Retric) was trying to say is that the terminology of "social relationships" found in the wiki article : [link] ... is not talking about parasocial relationships. Yes "parasocial relationships" is a real phenomenon but that's not what Dunbar was referring to when correlating "# of maintained relationships" with the primate neocortex size in his research.
Tom Scott segment explaining parasocial relationships
I'm more reminded of Tom Scott's talk at the Royal Institution "There is no Algorithm for Truth"[0]. A lot of what you're talking about is the ability to detect Truth, or even truth! [0] [this video]
Tom Scott talk related to detecting truth, compared to LLM sycophancy
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