Re:The publishing industry has a gambling problem
by colechristensen on Tuesday October 07, 2025 @06:15PM
(#45509608)
Recommendation systems are just bad across the board.
Audible says "You liked this John Scalzi book? Here's every other Scalzi book as a recommendation! Also a few other very popular books which are almost exactly the same as the one you just read!"
Amazon says "You just bought a hammer, here are 37 more hammers in case you want another one!"
Why yes, I do like books with spaceships in them, but maybe I want to see more than the next 20 most popular books with spaceships in them...
Recommendation engines fail by failing to make connections that aren't in the immediate neighborhood.
Audible says "You liked this John Scalzi book? Here's every other Scalzi book as a recommendation! Also a few other very popular books which are almost exactly the same as the one you just read!"
Amazon says "You just bought a hammer, here are 37 more hammers in case you want another one!"
Why yes, I do like books with spaceships in them, but maybe I want to see more than the next 20 most popular books with spaceships in them...
Recommendation engines fail by failing to make connections that aren't in the immediate neighborhood.