[avivo]

Author here, not of the post, but the linked article, making the case for bridging-based ranking, https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/bridging-based-rank... and the related https://bridging.systems/ which lays out a set of open problems and approaches.

It's great to see this exploration. Those interested might also want to check out https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/08/16/communitynotes.h... and https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-algorithmic-managemen... (and how aspects of this might be applied to AI governance https://reimagine.aviv.me/p/governance-of-ai-with-ai-through ).

[PeterStuer]

At first glance it feels like the most effective way to game this system is to grind user credit through aggregate low polarization support on fairly neutral low impact posts, then strategically 'spend' on higher profile polerizing posts. Is that a fair 'red teaming' observation?

[jwarden]

Yes I think this actually could work. Community Notes has a basic reputation system: users need to "Earn In" by rating notes as "Helpful" that are ultimately classified by the algorithm as helpful. Once enough attackers earn in, they can totally break the algorithm.

Breaking it is not as simple upvoting a lot of, say, right-wing or left-wing posts though. The algorithm will simply classify all the attackers as having a very positive or negative polarization factor, and decide that their votes can be explained by this factor.

What would work is upvoting *unhelpful* posts. I have actually simulated this attack using synthetic data and sure enough it totally breaks the algorithm. I write about it in this article: https://jonathanwarden.com/improving-bridge-based-ranking/

[jwarden]

Hi Aviv, thanks for replying and for the additional links. I think this work is so important.

I'll also add a link to some work I and some colleagues are doing on designing social algorithms that promote collective intelligence.

https://social-protocols.org

[patcon]

Oh hey, I came across your Social Protocols groups while doing my regular rounds for Polis-related projects a few months ago, when I found Propolis! Was trying to figure out why your name was familiar-ish :)

I've got you in this spreadsheet that I share around quite regularly, in case you're curious: https://link.g0v.network/pug-resources

There's also a Polis User Group discord: https://link.g0v.network/pug-discord It's pretty low-key lately, but high density of potentially-aligned ppl. I am hoping to restart the weekly open calls for prospective Polis facilitators and self-hosters, in case you're interested to log in.

Thanks for your posts by the way! I am jealous of your output -- I tend to have a few calls/meetings about Polis per week, but am not so great at producing clean artifacts like this :)

[esafak]

Are there any good books on algorithmically-supported collective intelligence?

[jwarden]

Note that I am aware of. But me and some colleagues at social-protoclols.org have have written a number of articles on the subject.

For example, here's an article on using Mechanism Design to solve the problem of dishonesty and promote "truthtelling" in social networks: https://social-protocols.org/truthtelling-games/

And here's a writeup on our "Global Brain" algorithm: https://social-protocols.org/global-brain/

[PeterStuer]

It is fairly old but I remember "Building web reputation systems" being a decent introduction.

https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/building-web-reputation...