alt Hacker NewsIt’s true, we are just optimizing for engagement, which is a first-order (and our best current) approximation of happiness. I’m hopeful that as the attention economy evolves, we will evolve objective metrics that more accurately reflect the long-term health and happiness of users.
...engagement, which is a first-order (and our best current) approximation of happiness.
Engagement is better seen as an approximation of how many ads you are likely to be able to serve to that user.