Fractal flourishing requires focusing on flourishing at multiple levels.
...or one level at a time it gets lopsided. The hollow era is about optimizing for revealed preferences, not reflective preferences.
Topic: revealed preference
19 chunks · 14 episodes
4.7x burst in 2025 Q3
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Peak quarter intensity across the topic's active span. Higher values mean attention was concentrated into a shorter stretch rather than spread evenly over time.
Topic summary
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A short read on the topic's time range, peak episode, and strongest associations. Use it as the quick orientation before drilling into examples.
- revealed preference appears in 19 chunks across 14 episodes, from 2024-09-09 to 2026-09-21.
- Its densest episode is Bits and Bobs 9/29/25 (2025-09-29), with 3 observations on this topic.
- Semantically it travels with quantitative scale, junk food, and qualitative nuance, while by chunk count it sits between higher quality and upside; its yearly rank moved from #155 in 2024 to #106 in 2026.
Over time
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Raw mentions over time. Use this to see absolute attention, not relative rank among all topics.
Observations
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The primary evidence view for this topic. Sort it chronologically when you want concrete examples behind the larger pattern.
Our systems shouldn't optimize for your revealed preference, but for your reflective preference.
Our systems shouldn't optimize for your revealed preference, but for your reflective preference. That is, not what you do in an instant, but what you would do after reflection. Not what you want, but what you ...
It's creepy when a system that knows you better than you know yourself shows you ads.
...persuasive. Pre-LLM systems could do this, but only by distilling crowd sourced revealed preferences. The system didn't understand you, it just knew how to show you ads that worked for people like you. Google never knew you better than you know your...
Revealed preferences aren't enough for agency.
Revealed preferences aren't enough for agency. Even a tumbleweed has revealed preferences. To have agency there has to be a second-order goal.
It's probably comforting for employees at Meta to believe that revealed preferences are all that matter.
It's probably comforting for employees at Meta to believe that revealed preferences are all that matter. Facebook should admit that, of course, there's some parts of global optimized social media that's bad for society. If you're th...
Revealed preferences can only reveal what we do, not what we want.
Revealed preferences can only reveal what we do, not what we want. Sometimes the forces at play make us do things we don't want. Real want is second order, what we want ...
Craving vs calling?
Craving vs calling? Revealed preferences are more likely a craving. Resonant things are more likely a calling.
Revealed preference isn't resonance, because revealed preference is shallow and resonance is deep.
Revealed preference isn't resonance, because revealed preference is shallow and resonance is deep.
Facebook's stats say we all love doomscrolling.
...ats say we all love doomscrolling. But every one of us hates doomscrolling. Our revealed preferences can only show what we want,[n] not our higher order desires.
In tech, revealed preference became the norm.
In tech, revealed preference became the norm. Tech knows our base desires, not our higher level intentions. LLMs allow us to change that, because they allow qualitative nuance at...
"Revealed preferences" show that we like junk food, slop, and don't care about privacy.
"Revealed preferences" show that we like junk food, slop, and don't care about privacy. That's what our lizard brains want, not what our higher brains want. That is, it's...
TikTok is self-distributing content.
...her. TikTok, like all engagement-maxing hyper-scale services, optimizes for the revealed preferences of what we want, not what we want to want.
Your revealed preferences fundamentally can't imply your aspirations.
Your revealed preferences fundamentally can't imply your aspirations. They must be distinct. One is your limbic system, one is your higher mind.
Qualitative nuance at quantitative scale allows ranking suggestions based on your aspirations, not your revealed preferences.
...antitative scale allows ranking suggestions based on your aspirations, not your revealed preferences. Your revealed preferences are dominated by your limbic system. Aligning your actions with your aspirations "Goals and aspirations" is not about fir...
Quantitative is about quantity.
...tinguish between truly resonant things and junk food in a quantitative way. Our revealed preferences can't distinguish between the two.
I think this paper on Full Stack Alignment is very important in an age of AI.
...portant in an age of AI. Some of my friends were co-authors! It points out that revealed preferences can't show the user's aspirations, since addiction and other manipulation can influence a user's revealed preferences. What we "want to want" and wh...
"Want" collapses revealed preference and your limbic system.
"Want" collapses revealed preference and your limbic system. Your "want to want" and "want" are distinct. LLMs can for the first time understand our values and help us align with them. M...
The term 'revealed preference' assumes that the person is perfectly rational.
The term 'revealed preference' assumes that the person is perfectly rational. If the system dopamine hacked me to want that thing, does that count?
When you are an all powerful leader in an organization where members can be fired, it is extremely hard as the leader to get good disconfirming evidence.
...a small gesture can have massive ripple effects. People will whisper about that revealed preference, and it can take on a life much larger than the leader realizes. As a leader, you think you're winning more and more arguments because you're smarter...