Why cutting chicken nuggets for my 2y old is an optimization problem, and how social media companies use these principles:
Objective: maximize my 2 year olds caloric intake
Inputs: chicken nugget size.
Cut two nuggets four ways: 8 pieces.
Cut two nuggets two ways: 4 pieces.
Will the kid eat 5 small pieces or 3 big ones?
On one hand, he eats 62.5% of nuggets. On the other, 75%. But maybe he only eats two halves - that drops him to 50% consumption.
What gets you watching one more YouTube, one more Spotify song, one more TikTok? One more LinkedIn post?
Do people sign off after 5 posts? One post? If we slide a video into the fifth spot after the first four posts, do they engage? If they engage with the video do they come back tomorrow or in a week?
Everything’s an optimization. Even cutting nuggets. Your mind just does this subconsciously.
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Bryan lives somewhere at the intersection of faith, fatherhood, and futurism and writes about tech, books, Christianity, gratitude, and whatever’s on his mind. If you liked reading, perhaps you’ll also like subscribing: