Some excerpts from this article point out the effect machine algorithms have on shaping our information, our entertainment, and our culture.
The Creepy and Creeping Power of Social Media
By Ned Ryun| June 8th, 2018
While algorithms are necessary to serve up the content people want, social media companies failing to be transparent on this front are dangerous…Algorithm tweaking isn’t neutral and it has a massive “follow on” effect in the digital industry and political world, changing the kind of content that people see everyday. So if the algorithm starts filtering [say, content] it puts a thumb on the scale, favoring one side over the other. With a small handful of controllers over the algorithms, it’s appropriate to ask who controls the controllers?
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We should acknowledge that rule by algorithm can be just as stringent as any rule by a dictator, perhaps even more so as it is vague, faceless, and hard to define. These algorithms decide what you see and don’t see in your timeline, subtly determining for you what is “worthy” of your attention. Facebook treats this algorithm like a black box, we’re never allowed to look inside and see what’s going on, we’ll only ever see the results on our news feeds. A world ruled by algorithms—just like the one it replaced controlled by network executives—closes off views, closes off debates, and further Balkanizes people. So, in fact, how can these social media and tech giants save democracy when in fact they’re becoming less democratic?
This is the same dynamic that is filtering and feeding our artistic content through the world-wide web. We can only consume the content that we can find and this is how it’s being found.