Between the iTunes Genius Sidebar, Amazon’s recommender system and Pandora’s virtual DJ, recommender systems are now getting close to knowing my tastes better than I do.
There’s a certain seductive attraction to the idea that collaborative filtering and artificial intelligence could hand us our heart’s desire before our hearts even think of it. Think of the time and effort I could save if I didn’t have to make decisions about what to eat, buy, wear, listen to, watch or read. When it comes right down to it, free will is a genuine time suck, and seriously cuts into my blogging schedule.
Then again, as I speak, iTunes is trying to convince me that if I like the Electric Light Orchestra, I’m gonna love Styx. So maybe there’s a role for my brain’s frontal lobes yet.
