The Slanted Floor

Imagine a room whose floor is slightly tilted – you will inevitably slide in one direction. Slowly. Imperceptibly. But steadily.

Platforms are such spaces. This episode explains the architecture of "nudges" – the gentle pushes that drive us in certain directions.

You start with an interesting video. The algorithm shows you a similar one. Then a slightly more extreme one. Then an even more extreme one. After two hours, you're at content you never would have searched for – but the path there was so gradual that you didn't notice the drift.

Algorithms gently but steadily push us toward radicalization, consumption, and time-wasting. Not out of malice. Out of profit. That's where the highest return lies. That's where the strongest engagement is. That's where people spend the most time.

The platform doesn't want you to become more extreme. It wants you to stay. But the extreme holds better than the mild. Outrage binds stronger than satisfaction. The tilted floor is not the goal – it's the means.

We learn to see through the architecture and consciously move "against the tilt." This requires strength. Like standing on a tilted floor requires muscle tension.

Sovereignty means being able to stand straight in a tilted space. Noticing when you're sliding. And having the strength to hold on.