…Not in our Stars…

An algorithm  is a finite sequence of well-defined, computer-implementable instructions, typically to solve a class of problems or to perform a computation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm

That is one way of putting it. In tech, an algorithm usually refers to what code is supposed to do like find an address, load a video, connect with a friend. Software engineers spend their whole careers using, creating and improving them.

In the more abstract world of mathematics, they lay the foundation for iron clad truths describing the fabric of existence.

In everyday life, they can solve Rubik’s cube…and apparently much much more.

There is no escaping how much of our lives will now be spent online, in some form or another. Whether for work or play or education, it is now and will be for the foreseeable future, the world we live in. And as our “social” networks become electronic and well beyond just friends and family, the view we see of that world is brought to us by the now God like Algorithm. We must please and conjole it, lest it becomes angry and does not share its blessings. I may be laying it on a bit thick, but think about it.

Like the electromagnetic waves that once brought us television, everybody takes them for granted, but no one really knows what that means. How many people do you know that can explain how television actually works from beginning to end? It doesn’t matter to most people unless you manufacture televisions or television cameras. The same is true with the all-powerful, all-mystical Algorithm. Why should you know, unless you’re a software engineer, a mathematician or a Rubik enthusiast. But you better learn quick. For if you don’t control the Algorithm, the Algorithm will control you or, at the very least, what you see…and at the very worst, what you CAN see.

An algorithm is a mathematical set of rules specifying how a group of data behaves. In social media, algorithms help maintain order, and assists in ranking search results and advertisements. On Facebook, for example, there is an algorithm which directs pages ad content to display in a certain order. (digitalmarketinginstitute.com)

I could go into rigorous detail on how computational algorithms work and what they do but that is not the point I’m trying to make. No one needs to be reminded of the enormous power of the biggest social networks, captivating billions of people and dominating the entire Internet. With dominance comes power, a new, transfixing kind of power that the world has seen before, but only in isolated doses. This time, its ubiquitous. Its the world. Its everywhere…an awesome responsibility. Hence the daily barrage of what Zuckerberg or Bezos did or didn’t do today. Each social network has its own algorithms that seeks its own purpose, usually to grab and hold your attention. But  when you factor in human nature, well that’s where the trouble starts.

The social networks…began to see themselves as a conduit for news distribution. They changed their algorithms to suit this shift especially as more people began to receive their news via them.

In stead of chatting with mom or cousin Liz, how the minions were being told what was happening in the world at large. Nothing wrong with that, news is news, facts are facts. No one denies that.

Then something happened.

Clickbait articles, fake news, bots, trolls and political warfare began to dominate the platform. The Facebook algorithm, perhaps the most famous algorithm in the world, was at the center of it.

Human beings are not generally attracted to peace and harmony, despite Coke-Cola commercials. They like gossip, they like partisanship, they like to feel outraged whatever the cause. This, more often than not gets  all the attention and hence feeds the gluttonous Algorithm to disseminate to all the like souls it can find on the network. And we eat it up with a spoon. However, an algorithm, has no moral standing or conscious, it has no right or wrong…only true or false. Only humans can determine right from wrong. The only problem is, we’ve yet to discover an algorithm for that.