One of my obsessions is how new technology changes people - the way they behave, the way they think, and the way they define themselves in relation to other people, society, the world etc.

I spend a lot of time reading about and thinking about the impact of the internet on people, business, and society. I've manged to turn it into my profession. Nevertheless, I feel utterly unprepared for the day when I'm inevitably going to have to have a conversation with my children about porn. By the time my son's hormones and neurons have developed in a way that he is going to be interested in and aroused by naked people, he is probably going to have a screen in his pocket at all times that will show him pictures (nd videos) of anything he wants to see pictures and videos of, at his request.

The thing that really bothers me is the idea that he isn't going to see what he wants to see. He is going to see what other people want to see — when he visits whatever website he ends up at, he is going to be presented with the kind of things that most people are searching for. Or rather, that most searches are for. In other words, the kind of things that are most popular with people who spend most time on those websites.

While that might be a great way to run a pornographic website, that means that my children's first exposure to sexual imagery is going to be driven by an algorithm designed to serve a very different audience. Which is something I find a bit disturbing.

At some point, I'm going to have conversations similar to those that this linked Medium post is discussing. Hopefully by then, I will have figured out how to prepare for them.

Some Random Nerd