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There is No Algorithm for Truth - with Tom Scott

The Royal Institution · 2.7M views · 2019-10-24 · 59:34

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Overview

Tom Scott's Royal Institution discourse on science communication in the age of social media, how recommendation algorithms shape popularity, and why view counts can matter more than truth. It includes a segment on parasocial relationships.

On Hacker News

HN returns to it in discussions of algorithmic feeds, misinformation and parasocial relationships, as a clear and thoughtful talk.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2019–2025

Topics

Scientific method & science communicationFuturism & technology and societyMedia, journalism & propaganda
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social mediaalgorithmsscience communicationparasocial relationshipstom scott

What people said

nativeit · 2025-03 · Recommendation

RIYL: Tom Scott's There Is No Algorithm For Truth [1] delivered to the Royal Society in October 2019. 1. [VIDEO]

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codefreeordie · 2022-05 · Recommendation

Not without a certain amount of irony, everybody's parasocial internet friend Tom Scott did a really good segment on the parasocial relationship as part of his talk to the Royal Institution: [VIDEO] I swear it's also a short video on its own somewhere, but neither Google nor I can find it today.

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pdkl95 · 2019-11 · Recommendation

> Someone who can get pop-culture’s attention needs to do a fucking Ted Talk and explain why this is usually a bad idea. Tom Scott made a good attempt recently: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by The Royal Institution, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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