Algorithms is an example of humankind being governed by the concepts they develop or invent. Because the artificial intelligence is depicted as robots taking over the world, we tend to think that technology can only cause that kind of dark future. I call this misdirection, as in the methods magicians use. We probably won't witness events like in terminator movies and we are not living inside capsules and won't be encapsulated like in the matrix either. But we left a big portion of the control of our lives to artificial intelligence and our eyes are unable to see what further than what we are presented with. This is our fault and we will aks these questions to understand why. What was an algorithm and what has it become?
Let's begin with the basics but before that, i will mention the best software engineering description for algorithm. They say algorithm is the word when developers don't want to tell what they did in the code :) Basically the term algorithm is derived from the old islamic scholar Al-khwarizmi. But normally, it is a term as ancient as human history. Let me put my own description here: It is a sequence of consistent and repeatable operations to transform an input into a certain output. When it comes to algorithms, we have a starting point and an outcome. We also have a mechanism to reach that point and this mechanism is repeatable by others.
We don't have to dig into the technical software stuff to understand it, nor should we. For example, there is an algorithm to bake a cake. Different cakes are baked according to different algorithms. One can require a certain mode of stirring or certain measures of ingredients. One cake may require checking while being baked. Another example: There would be an algorithm to reach a point in the city from your location. Maybe you would avoid narrow streets or look for alternative roads in traffic congestion.
There is a process in almost all of our actions or decisions in our lives. If we establish this process in a certain way and make it repeatable, we would make an algorithm. If you ask "how can i clean the house the fastest and easiest way", your answer would be an algorithm. You can either follow someone else's directives or create your own way of doing it. Thus, algorithms don't have to be the same and static in all around the world. They can evolve.
This much algorithm knowledge is surely enough to understand the world. Let me briefly mention the history of these algorithms. Even though it is intertwined with our daily lives, algorithms are usually mentioned with software. For example a sorting algorithm is designed to sort random numbers most efficiently. Or the shortest path algorithms are trying to optimize the path between the point A and point B in the map. These procedures are coded in the software and the computer executes it to let us know the answer.
Algorithms like these evolve over time and turn into decision making systems. At this stage, the system, the software is actually making a decision. Rather than just comparing inputs. Later on engineers come up with algorithms as good as an artificially intelligent system or some collectively working algorithms. With the help of artificial intelligence, we can get the result of complex decisions filtered out of complex inputs, which we can't make easily. At this point, we are taking advantage of the cpus computers being able to perform much faster than our brains. This is the point where we slowly start losing control. It is time to see the today's situation.
The term decision making is already an algorithm itself. Whether it is a machine or a human, a decision is consists of a simple or complex procedure and makes a choice or a deduction. In this digital world today, the contents, ads and the products we are facing with is reaching us by filtering out of a lot of choices. This makes decision making or filtering algorithms necessary. Before moving on, i will note this here: Most of us are serving the mechanisms of capitalism involuntarily in this money driven world. The "decision making" processes behind the algorithms who rule over what we see on the internet, is also mostly serving this purpose.
So let's get back to concrete examples. I have divided these into 3 groups as the contents, ads and the products on purpose. The first one, the contents, is basically what you see on youtube, spotify, tiktok, instagram, twitter ...etc. There are algorithms running in the background for these stuff to reach more users or the targeted users. Therefore some content is highly popular or viral and some of it is just lost in the mayhem. Algorithms decide what you will see and what you won't see in these systems. They cage you into a bubble by presenting you the videos similar to what you usually watch there. People define this as "echo room" nowadays. This situation serves very well for us human who are tended to discriminate and separation all around the world. You can also check out my posts about Clubhouse, Facebook and Metaverse in this context.
The second one is the ads. People are putting ads on the internet to present their content but these ads need to be shown to relevant people. For example, it doesn't make sense to show makeup or nail polish videos to men. This basically wastes your money because of ineffective ad placement. Google, apple, instagram ...etc can serve as ad platform. That means social media is a big part of these ads. These ads are shown to users after some optimization process with algorithms. The users are tracked on the internet and their behaviour is observed and registered. With help of this information, ad algorithms are making decisions.
The third part, products, is basically the e-commerce world from my perspective. These websites are using decision algorithms to be able to show you the things that you might buy. You personal data and your habitual behaviours in the market is also the key here to be able to make a decision. In the end, the end-goal is to let you hop on the train of consuming madness.
Actually, most of these algorithms are taking your personal data or habits as inputs. The bottom line is: The purpose is to make you spend more time online, spend more money, donate more personal data and stay mostly in your bubble. When was the last time you have searched for something other than the recommendations on youtube? When was the last time you have read tweets of some thinker that you normally wouldn't follow? Are you aware of what kind of videos or images are roaming around on instagram explore?
What surprises me the most is to see the people who mentions freedom a lot to be unaware of the fact that they have been chained by these algorithms or they seem to accept it. Seeing a lot of content creators saying "like the video and subscribe" proves this. Of course they are trying to make money out of there but is it ideal for people to like a video even if they are not willing? Wouldn't it be more valuable for your content being likeable regardless of the subject?
You can see this same logic i have mentioned on youtube in a lot of digital platforms. Youtube is not our subject here. Our subject is the fact that these algorithms shaping these people's behaviours and strategies. We are experiencing stimulus bombardment these days and trying to emerge out of it to reach our audience or customers. Therefore we are trying to do what algorithm is asking us to do. We are expecting things to come our way instead of getting up and looking for new things. We want to hear what we expect to hear and cant bear to hear otherwise.
Even the laws are not as influential as these algorithms. We are surrendering control in both sides of the coin in different ways, either as consumers or producers. I we give up this control which we would usually have, this much, someone can utilize or take advantage of this unregulated are and can even effect the results of an election in a country. Remember the Cambridge Analytica issue. I am 100 percent sure similar events are taking place in the world somewhere out of the radar but you can call this as a conspiracy theory. Maybe because they want you to think this way :P
We should always ask "what am i not seeing" with the things we see in these times which i call the age of deception. We haven't even witnessed what kind of troubles will deepfake videos cause. That technology is also based on machine learning algorithms. Long story short, the machines are learning, deciding, executing and we are trying to adjust. Whereas the process was the opposite at the beginning. We have given the world to machines and the robots before they conquer the world. We are not in capsules like matrix, but, what we see and don't see, what we hear and don't hear, what we know and don't know is mostly under machines' control. Let me finish be wishing you to read my other posts here, to break free from these chains and i will see you at the next post :)
M Fatih Karaaslan
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