Reinforcement learning is the idea of being able to assign credit or blame to all the actions you took along the way while you were getting that reward signal.
-Jeff DeanExperiments in learning found if they consistently rewarded a rat with a pellet every time they pressed a lever, they had a contented rat. If the rat never got a pellet, the rat moved on. However, if they gave only an occasional pellet at random, the rat would stay – obsessively pressing the lever in the hope of an eventual reward. It is the same premise used in gambling, newsfeeds and social media. Our devices are like pellet dispensers, generating a sense of anticipation, excitement and desire. Anyone in our lives can act as a dispenser – employers, friends, family, and partners, intermittently dispensing whatever it is we desire – love, connection, belonging, admiration, security. It is unhealthy and it can keep us stuck.