Algorithms Control Contemporary Life

Abstract

Today, algorithms can influence many different elements of your life, including what you buy, where you live, whether you land a job or a bank loan, and many other things. Now, autocomplete can anticipate your words in search terms, Gmail messages, and text messages. Even Tinder is subject to algorithmic control–did you choose your partner, or did Tinder? People are aware of the impact of the algorithms used by digital companies and what the typical person can accomplish when confronted with powerful international corporations. Many people share the opinion that, when it comes to sophisticated technology and the algorithms that have been unleashed on us, we are all relatively defenseless as humans. However, I believe that while individual effort alone won't be enough to address this issue, we do have some power in this situation, and that power comes in the shape of our knowledge, our votes, and our money. The concept of knowledge—being aware of the technology we use and what's going on with it behind the scenes—is rather simple, but I believe it is underappreciated. We should make more thoughtful decisions while using technologies and algorithms rather than being merely passive users of them. We need to consider how algorithms affect the choices we make and the judgments others make about us. I think that what Facebook is doing and what they announced last week regarding changes to their products, how they are going to support message encryption and sort of treat messages and sort of appreciate people’s privacy needs are all a direct result of pushback from users.