Algorithmic Uses of Cybernetic Memory: Google Photos and a Genealogy of Algorithmically Generated “Memory”

Abstract

When algorithmic media are becoming more independent in their ability to select, organize, and create what and how we remember daily life, this article examines the genealogical pre-condition of algorithmically generated “memory” through a case study of Google Photos. I argue that the algorithmic conceptualization of memory is rooted in the history of cybernetics, which is a contrast to the socially constructed memory. I first investigate older phenomenological questions around “memory” in the science of cybernetics and then examine a genealogy of cybernetic memory. Finally, I illustrate how cybernetic memory is animated in Google Photos. This article historically examines what “memory” is understood to be in algorithmic media and how the science of cybernetics has integrated our current understanding of memory into algorithmic memory practices—the socio-technical imaginary of the past.