Have you ever used Incognito Mode because you wanted to search for something weird, but you didn’t want it showing up in targeted ads? Or have you ever withheld a Like from a YouTube video, because although you enjoyed watching it, you weren’t really interested in being recommended more of the same? I have. And since I can’t hear you, I’ll assume you probably have too. People have gotten accustomed to the idea of “training” their computers to behave how they want, much like you’d train a dog or your nephew. And whether you study computer science or psychology or ecology or dog stuff, the principles of reinforcement learning are all about the same. The reason you don’t search weird stuff while logged in or thumbs-up everything indiscriminately is that you’re trying to avoid setting the wrong example. But occasional slip… more →