Tag: Tik-Tok

Is Big Tech Reading Consumers’ Minds Using Digital Telepathy?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The short answer is, of course, no, of course not. This is a demonstrably silly idea and I am a fool — and maybe a bit of a kook — to even bring the subject up. And, generally, I just don’t believe in conspiracy theories. I’m of the opinion that the vast majority of actual conspiracies are well known and the public generally doesn’t care.

Ok. Having said that, let’s yet again ponder a scenario whereby Big Tech, and specifically Tik-Tok, is in some way able to not only monitor what’s rolling around in our minds but use that information to push content to us in an eerily specific way.

Up until a while ago, Facebook — now Meta — was, in fact, looking into how they could read people’s minds to the point that they even patented a way to do it. They have since scrapped this research and so, lulz, obviously they aren’t using any such technology to read people’s minds, right?

So that should be that. Big Tech isn’t reading our minds and if they were, we would obviously know about it because it would be such a huge milestone in technology. The ethical implications of reading people’s minds without their consent would be just too big for Big Tech to overcome and so why are we even talking about this?

One thing I will note is how beneficial it would be for, say, the NSA or CIA to be able to monitor the minds of diplomats and other major officials in foreign countries. And, in general, some of the most cutting edge technology used in a practical way is developed not by private industry, but by government agencies like DARPA — which came up with the Internet.

This brings us to Tik-Tok

Tik-Tok is a Chinese company and there is little or no separation between Chinese tech companies like Tik-Tok and the security agencies of the CCP. So, if you were of a conspiratorial bent, you could definitely find yourself pondering the possibility that Tik-Tok is using digital telepathy is not only read the minds of America’s youth, but use that information to push them ever-more addictive content to keep them using what is now one of the most popular social media platforms on earth.

This is the point where you laugh at me and say all of this is just crazy talk. And, honestly, whenever I find myself talking to a tech person I go out of my way to try to get them to dissuade me of my paranoia. I explain to them what’s happening and I ask them to explain to me why I’m wrong. The most common explanation they give me is it’s all a coincidence and Tik-Tok’s algorithms simply now me so well that it just seems like it can read my mind.

This is similar to how there is the horror story of a young woman being sent pregnancy related coupons in the mail because of what she was looking for on a big box retailer’s website. Ok, I get it that makes a lot of sense and explains most — but not all — of what I’m noticing.

As an aside, I’ve started to try to keep these suspicions to myself — especially at bars — because, well, people think I’m completely insane and don’t want to talk to me anymore when I causally broach the subject. Which, all things considered, is probably understandable.

The only reason I keep thinking about the bizarre conspiracy theory is the fact that some of the video’s that Tik-Tok pushes me aren’t nearly as general as what happened with the pregnant teen and the coupons. I still struggle to understand how Tik-Tok’s algorithms can be so good as to narrow down a very specific thing I thought about intensely in passing.

Usually these spooky events have something to do with my body, something I haven’t told anyone about. And sometimes, it’s something I just think about really hard for a moment or two out of the blue. It’s those specific type of incidents that give me pause for thought when I get pushed a video on Tik-Tok that is about that very specific thing.

But I have no proof and probably never will. And even if it was happening, it is the CCP we’re talking about, so it’s not like we’ll ever find out. Though if Big Tech in the United States was also reading our minds, then, I suppose the secret might pop out eventually.

Which leads you to wonder what the reaction would be. I’m of the opinion that after the shock wore off, there would either be a huge outcry where the population demanded some sort of regulation crackdown of Big Tech — or nothing would happen.

It would just be another thing that we all knew about, but didn’t care because, in general we got better products and services because of it. Though, of course, if it was proven that Tik-Tok — and by extension the CCP — was reading the minds of America’s youth….I suppose that might be considered something akin to an act of war?

Relations between the US and China would definitely suffer.

Anyway, this is all nuts. There’s no way Big Tech can read our minds. I’m just noticing really good algorithms.

Women Dominate Tik-Tok

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I used to be active in a four way video conferencing service called Blab that no longer exists. It was a vanity project by some wealthy plutocrat and, as such, the plug was pulled on it soon enough. The interesting thing about Blab was because it was live video, a lot of people — especially women — simply did not want to use the video aspect of it. They were worried about their appearance, shy and so forth.

So, it’s striking how women totally dominate Tik-Tok. And sometimes they’re pretty raunchy in a feminine sort of way, which is rather amusing to me. Why, then, were women reluctant to use Blab’s video feature and yet women love, love, love Tik-Tok?

I think some of it comes from the controlled nature of Tik-Tok. It’s usually not live, so they can make sure they feel comfortable before they make a video. But once they feel ok, then they are able to lean into the native popularity of, well, hot chicks on video. And given how popular Tik-Tok is and how you can really blow up, getting views in the millions, there is a lot of inducement for women to let their hair down and be a bit more edgy than they might otherwise be.

In it’s own way, Tik-Tok is a “safe space” for women to talk about the female experience in ways they haven’t before so publicly. There are lots of videos about sex from a female point of view, periods, and various other things that generally men don’t see in other media. Of course, I don’t know how much of this is Tik-Tok thinks I’m a woman and how much is what is really going on with the service.

Anyway, Keep at it ladies. I find your content very entertaining and sometimes informative. The more dudes are forced to be empathetic to women, the better.

‘Sad Alex’ Is Using Tik-Tok To Promote Her Music In A Way That’s Pretty Cool

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I fear that Tik-Tok is destroying modern pop music because record companies are obsessed with basing a hit off a 30 second clip of a song, there are a few glimmers of hope. One notable artist who has knocked it out of the park when it comes to promoting her music on Tik-Tok is “Sad Alex.”

Sad Alex

Instead of structuring entire songs on the premise that they have to have a 30 second clip that might go viral, she produced a solid bop with “Rug Burn.” I went into listening the rest of “Rug Burn” fearing for the worst. But the actual song is really, really good. You can listen to the whole thing and it’s just like any other modern pop song.

But I fear she’s the exception to the rule. Most record labels are run by ham handed idiots who are willing to destroy a song simply so it might go viral from a 30 second portion of it. Oh well.

Is Tik-Tok Ruining Pop Music?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though Tik-Tok’s ability to make or break a pop song is beginning to warp pop music, just like MTV did back in the day. I say this because of the song “Stay With Me” by Halsey and a few others.

If you just hear the Halsey’s hook for the song, you think you’re getting a really good song on her part. But then the actual song is a rather lazy, mediocre dance pop song. It’s so bad that you feel kind of suckered.

Of course, the reason why this happened is the record company knew that the good Halsey part of the song is probably the only thing most Zoomers on Tik-Tok would ever hear of the song in the first place. So they decided to concentrate on only having the hook with Halsey be any good.

This sucks. I hate this. I want entire songs to be good, not just snippets of it them that are meant to be used as background music on Tik-Toks. Oh well.

Tik-Tok Did It Yet Again

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t believe in conspiracies. In general, I believe the biggest conspiracies are actually pretty well known and people just don’t care. And, yet, there is the issue of Tik-Tok potentially reading our minds.

I wouldn’t keep talking about my suspicions if it wasn’t for the fact that Tik-Tok continues to push me very, very specific videos that directly connected to my internal monologue.

The latest instance of this is pretty surreal. I found myself recently thinking randomly about the darker side of rock legend Chuck Berry. Specifically, how he had a gross personal stash of homemade porn of women using the bathroom. I thought about this for a moment or two a few days ago. Then, would you believe just a few moments ago Tik-Tok pushed me a video about that very specific thing.

This keeps happening to the point that I’m struggling to figure out how it is that it could simply be “algorithms.” It. Happens. All. The. Time. And, yet, I have no proof and any time I bring up to anyone else they look at me — rightfully — like I’ve lost my mind. The idea that Tik-Tok, and by extension the Chinese government — has the ability to read the minds of America’s youth is enough to give one pause for thought.

And if Tik-Tok can read our minds, then maybe Big Tech can, in general, read our minds as well. Then the question is — can they aggregate what they read or is it simply a point-to-point technology where they can do it, but not really do anything with the information?

Anyway. Big Tech can’t read our minds. Right? Right?

Tik-Tok’s Algorithms Believe I’m a Woman?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve long found Tik-Tok’s algorithms so good as to be, well, spooky. The service often pushes me videos that are so personalized as to be downright eerie. It’s like it can somehow pick up on keywords rolling around in my mind.

Meanwhile, there is the issue of how I keep getting pushed extremely graphic videos about “girl stuff” that maybe is best left on “female Tik-Tok.” It’s not so much that it has to do with “girl stuff” as it is, well, I’d at least like a little warning of what I was about to see.

I keep getting pushed extreme close ups of illustrations of female genitalia being used in a video to discuss this or that thing about it. Or, most recently, I saw an extremely graphic video about how periods work. It was both illuminative and eye popping, to say the least.

The question of course, is why? Why am I, a red blooded American dude being pushed content that is obviously intended for a female audience? What makes this even more curious is 60% of my For You Page is “hot chicks” in various states of undress doing hot chick stuff. So, it’s obviously very jarring to see all these nubile hotties then out of the blue see and extreme close up of an illustration detailing the different types of labia.

I’ve often joked in the past that I’m a “male lesbian,” but that still doesn’t account for what’s going on. If you really, really wanted to be conspiratorial and paranoid, you might believe that Tik-Tok knows specifically what I think all the time — what most men think about all the time — and so it pushes me specific videos to accommodate that.

Of course, one possible non-crazy explanation is some how it is reading what I’m writing of the novel I’m working on and it can tell that at times I’m writing from a female POV. Maybe? That sorta makes sense.

But that would involve digital telepathy and I’m still note prepared to believe that is even a possibility.

Tik-Tok Did It Yet Again

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ok, so I was obsessively using Twitter as I’m apt to do, when I noticed someone say something about how they like the Steve Martin movie “Man With Two Brains.” For a moment, I thought REALLY HARD about a different Steve Martin movie, “All Of Me.”

I thought specifically of the scene where one character says to the other, “Back in the bowl.” Or, if you want to know — this specific scene:

Let me be clear — I didn’t tell anyone this. I didn’t search for the scene anywhere. All I did was think about it really hard for a brief moment. Then the moment passed.

Would you believe that Tik-Tok pushed that very scene at me out of the blue just a moment ago? The moment I saw it, I had to think, “Well, if Tik-Tok can read our minds, then there’s yet more evidence to suggest that is the case.”

But I suppose it’s all algorithms, no any extremely advanced and hidden technology that would allow the Chinese government to read the minds of America’s young people. Right, that’s not possible, is it? Is it?

Yet More Eerie Tik-Tok Shenanigans

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, a few days ago, I watched at YouTube vide of Christy Brinkley on the Howard Stern show where she talked about why she was never nude on film. I didn’t think anything more about this until I started thinking about her daughter with Billy Joel, Alexa Ray Joel.

I thought about how she obviously has gotten a lot of work done, probably because she had a chip on her shoulder about the iconic nature of her mother’s beauty.

So, today, there I was obsessively using Tik-Tok when I was pushed a video that dealt with this specific issue. It was as if Tik-Tok peered directly into my mind, made note of my stray thought about Alexa Ray Joel’s changing appearance and decided to push me a video about that subject.

Now, I suppose the case could be made that Tik-Tok is extremely intrusive and it noticed that I saw the YouTube video and it was THAT, not any sort of mind reading that caused me to get pushed the video.

This would be the logical explanation, but for the fact that this type of shit happens all the time. In fact, there is sometimes a nuance to whatever potential mind reading might be going on.

But, I’m not prepared to say, for sure, that Tik-Tok or Big Tech for that matter, has the technology to read our minds. Definitely something to think about. Because the other option — that a combination of being very aggressive searching into my apps and algorithms gives Tik-Tok, a Chinese company, the ability to figure out what’s going on in my mind.

Tik-Tok Did It AGAIN

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now, this particular instance of Tik-Tok potentially…uh…reading my mind, is not nearly as clear cut as some others. But it’s still a very spooky co-incidence, regardless.

So, for some time now, I’ve been thinking about a weird incident that happened to me while I was working as an extra on the set of the movie Lincoln that shot in Richmond a few years ago. What happen was, my zipper broke in my costume and someone had to get way too personal with my junk to zip my zipper up. It was all very embarrassing because neither one of us wanted it to happen, but, lulz, it did.

I’ve been thinking hard about this incident the last few weeks for no particular reason other than I’m getting older and the past tends to linger in your mind more than it should.

Well, today I was flipping through Tik-Tok when what did I see but a video about — you guessed it — a person not only having a zipper stuck….but someone else helping them attempt to get it zipped up.

It’s all very random and weird. It’s extremely spooky, if nothing else.

Wait, What? Artists Can’t Release New Music Unless It Goes Viral On Tik-Tok?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is something that can’t be true, right? Pop stars are being told by their management that they can’t release new songs until they go viral on Tik-Tok. That is just crazy, crazy for real for real.

Just nuts.

I mean, who’s to say this or that song is going to go viral on Tik-Tok in the first place? It doesn’t seem to serve anyone. It’s a lose-lose situation. But here we are.