The role of discovery and serendipity in the machine age

Three decades into the life of the internet almost everyone and everything is online. Yet such is the dominance of search and social media algorithms that the web today is like an infinite house of wonders with just a few doors. The chance of finding or stumbling upon what is most interesting or relevant is surprisingly small. 

The many problems of the internet dominated by Big Tech are abundantly clear. The easy spread of misinformation in algorithmic “echo chambers.” And the other side of the coin: a dramatic destabilization of public-interest media because of its inability to compete with programmatic advertising to get sponsor revenue. 

All over the world, the public sphere is in danger of the bad drowning out the good. On the other hand, there are technological advancements that can fix some of the root causes of internet dysfunction.

In 2022, we have lived long enough in the internet age to neither be swayed by blind techno-optimism of the “who-needs-gatekeepers'' kind nor to hold on to misplaced nostalgia for before the Internet with limited or zero access to information in most of the world. Instead, it is perhaps the right time to ask the big question: Why can we not have the best of both worlds?: Discovery with the quality and authenticity we expect from the old world “gatekeepers” and the scale we are used to in the digital age. 

This series of six talks will feature some of the technology and media executives best positioned to answer the question .

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Kevin J. Delaney is a co-founder and CEO of Charter, a media and services company that aims to transform every workplace. He was previously a senior editor for The New York Times and The Information. Kevin co-founded Quartz and served as co-CEO and editor in chief from 2012 to 2019. Prior to Quartz, Kevin was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal for a decade.

Samir Patil is a co-founder and CEO of stck.me, India's #1 platform for creators. Earlier, he founded and grew Scroll.in into India’s largest destination for news, culture, and sports. Prior to starting his entrepreneurial journey, Samir was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York.