We dance with the algorithms, yielding time-saving results. How else are we to discover all these gems in a sea of content? How are we to land on the right words in a swamp of choice?
From Spotify to Gmail’s suggestive text, we accept the computer’s recommendations to curate and write for us. We allow the recipes to crunch down our tastes and our speaking patterns, essentially doing all the homework for us.
Playlists generate themselves; emails answers themselves.
Yet, just as humans are poor decision-makers, the symphony of algorithms is also flawed.
“An algorithm is an opinion embedded in math,” writes Cathy O’Neil in her book Weapons of Math Destruction (Amazon).
The computers and their code are often in over their heads, impractical, and sometimes stupid. Just ask Facebook — it takes a human to quell the dangerous idea virus that is fake news.
The algorithm, written by natural thinking and taste-making muscles, also requires the frequent practice of human moderation.
The ultimate balance of power is the intermixing of human neurons with the speed of computer nodes. Connecting humans to computers (e.g., Neuralink) will supercharge decision-making in a fast-paced world.
“Thoughtless” algorithms seem to know us better than ourselves, for now.