ML70: Mads Holmen on Living and Learning in the Attention Economy, Dealing with Fake News and Understanding AI and Machine Learning

Mads Holmen is the CEO of Bibblio, an API platform helping knowledge publishers and learning platforms deliver smarter content recommendation.  Bibblio’s clients include the likes of the University of Cambridge and Oxford University Press as well as the BBC and YouTube.

As Herbert Simon said, an information-rich leads to “a scarcity of what information consumes - attention.” We’re currently living in a world where there is a continuous battle for our attention online and this manifests itself in everything from addictive games to fake news, which fundamentally affects our learning and lives.

Mads is someone who has thought very deeply about the ideas behind online media and has a great understanding of the algorithms and business models driving the attention economy, which makes him the perfect guest to discuss these issues with, both from an theoretical and practical perspective.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- The systems driving the attention economy and how to live and learn in a world full of distractions

- The structural problems that drive fake news and how to spot and deal with this online
- The fundamentals of AI and Machine Learning, explained in a way that a 5 year old could understand

This episode is like a crash course in digital literacy - so whether you’re looking to understand the structure of the attention economy, manage your time better online or get a deeper understanding of AI and Machine Learning, this episode will give you all that and more.

Selected Resources

🎙 ML63: How To Learn Better With Technology

🎙 ML53: Barry Pousman on Learning in Virtual Reality, Building Soft Skills and The Power of Storytelling

🎙 ML24: Tom Chatfield on Digital Detoxing, Using Technology Wisely and How To Thrive in the Digital Age

Selected Resources

📖 Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman

▶️ Mads Holmen on a new business model for journalism

🖥 The Graph - Bibblio's Medium Publication

Credits

This episode was edited by George Drake Jr.