Inside the Mind of an Algorithm

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Did the algorithm bring you here?

There seems to be some confusion - and in some cases a complete misunderstanding - with many people as to what an algorithm actually is and what it does.

An algorithm is, quite simply, a mathematical set of steps or instructions that are used to complete a certain task. Everything that a computer does is guided by algorithms.

An app is a group of algorithms working together to help us do something.

The entire internet runs on algorithms.

If you use Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, a dating app, or any social media then you can notice the algorithms at work.

If you watch a video on YouTube you will suddenly notice similar videos being recommended to you. It's because of the algorithm.

If you use Instagram or TikTok, or whatever social media app you desire, and you notice that certain friends suddenly show up in your feed while others disappear, that's the algorithms at work.

Algorithms are used to rotate those friends in and out of your feed in a certain way so your feed isn't overwhelmed with every single new post from all of them. Since many people have hundreds, if not thousands of friends or people they follow, it would probably be overwhelming to try to keep up with so many people all at once, wouldn't it?

Texting? There is an algorithm that is used when you text. It learns how you talk and what words you use the most. That's why when you try to use a word you haven't used before, or very rarely use, it tries to replace that word with a similar word that you use more often.

Dating apps use algorithms in an attempt to recommend a match that may be of interest to you. Your email uses algorithms so the mail knows where to go and what file to go in. GPS uses algorithms to get you from one place to the next. Your spreadsheet works by using algorithms. Cash registers use algorithms. The apps on your phone are nothing but algorithms.

Oh, and all of those pesky adds that keep appearing in your social media feeds? Those are specifically aimed at you based on your search history and/or interests. Once again - the algorithms at work.

Our online searches use algorithms, too.

Search algorithms show us content that we're most likely to look at based on our previous search history. If you like sports, you're going to see more sports in your feed. Whatever way you lean politically or spiritually in your searches is what you're going to see more of. Rights activist groups, crime stories, sports, politics, religion, science, psychology - it doesn't matter - when you click on something, you are suddenly going to see more of the same or similar things.

If it's digital, it's using an algorithm.

There is a reason why you see what you see in your feeds, and it's not because that's how the rest of the world looks at things. The algorithm feeds you what it thinks you are interested in based on what you normally look at.

It gives you your very own personalized timeline, also altering how you see the world.

The algorithm is also designed to keep you on a particular platform. It's created a mathematical rabbit hole of your passions and desires. It sucks you in emotionally. It makes you feel seen. It is a creator of filter bubbles.

There are social media algorithms that are designed to promote division because that's what drives engagement, and engagement makes money.

Slowly but surely your feed becomes filled with content that you like, what you're interested in, and what you agree with. You begin to view the same things as like-minded people tend to do. This monotone repetition creates an illusion that everyone thinks the same as you do, and if they don't, well...they must be looking in the wrong places.

Once your feed is filled with things that you agree with, and your online friends - at least those who you regularly interact with - are those who think just like you, it frankly becomes much easier to be manipulated. At this point you will have, in effect, locked yourself into an echo chamber.

Inside these echo chambers people have one-sided conversations and agree with each other without any push back from opposing points of view. Conversations with anyone who has differing points of view are avoided, and this only strengthens the beliefs in our societies of mutual appreciation.

Friendships and families have been torn apart by these filter bubbles and echo chambers. Relationships have been lost because one person doesn't believe the same thing or the same way as the other person.

It's a feedback loop that is emotionally manipulating you. It's designed to keep you coming back for more because…

It's for profit!

And profit always comes at the expense of someone else.

The internet. It collects data, then recognizes patterns, which is how it seems to predict your choices. Then it re-configures the data in ways designed to try and keep you engaged. It's just doing what it's programmed to do, and it seems to be working quite well!

The internet is where you can create your own customized world of information or - if you're not careful - one is created for you.

But it's just using the data that you gave it; the information that you willingly put into the system.

We let the algorithm dictate what we look at but we fail to see that all it's doing is holding a mirror up to our beliefs, biases, and habits. But in doing so, it also keeps the unknown and the different hidden from us.

We seem to have confused information with knowledge.

Eye-catching content is all that matters anymore.

One reason for people's disgust and anger these days is because they have tied their emotional well-being to many things on the internet, and many things on the internet are either all-out fake or designed simply to keep us coming back, with little to no regard for our personal welfare.

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The algorithm.

It excites some, and terrifies others. There are those who think it has the ability to know our deepest desires and beliefs, and maybe even that it can make things happen.

But only because we give it that power.

And, as with everything else, the more we interact with something, the more we bond with it. We will gradually form a relationship with it.

The algorithm began as a way to keep our interests - what it calculated as relevant to us - in our feed. But in many cases it became a condition in which we existed.

The internet was supposed to be a tool to empower humanity. We can learn anything on the internet, but we generally use it to validate what we already believe as we revel in our own self importance and indulge our simpleness.

This is made evident by the number of times that people will not believe, or argue with, an expert, but they will side with a random person on the internet just because they have the same opinions or outlook.

The ability to get quick and easy answers that also support our personal beliefs led to the need for quick and easy answers that support our beliefs.

Having our own thoughts on a topic gave way to just repeating what everyone else in our sphere of influence says, invoked by the algorithm.

But one thing an algorithm can't do is teach us to ask better questions, and to be okay with doubt, uncertainty, and the unknown.

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I guess we could blame the internet, itself, for these problems, but as I've written about it before right here; the world wide web is just pointing its finger right back at us. We're just too wrapped up in our need to be right, our own anger and self-righteousness, to see it.

We are turning ourselves into a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner, while only having bits and pieces of information.

In this world there is no room for tolerance, questions, or a healthy discussion of issues. Instead, we become paranoid, angered, or simply unmoved by anything and everything that contradicts what we see and hear in our self-created online worlds.

There once was a time when we were friends with people who had opposing views. This promoted thinking and, in general, different views and perspectives on life.

Now there are many who only associate with those who share their same views and beliefs. This doesn't promote seeing things from different perspectives, let alone thinking or questioning. But it does promote indoctrination.

The algorithm.

A mysterious technology?

An advanced scientific calculation?

A closely guarded secret?

No. It's only a mathematical equation.

And we keep buying into it and allowing it to influence our choices, our beliefs, and even our entire lives.

We can't change our social media algorithms that rotate our friends, or who we follow, in and out of our feeds. But we can absolutely change our search algorithms.

Remember the example of YouTube videos that I mentioned above. When you search a different genre of music, you will suddenly see many other options from that same genre. When you search a How-To video, you will suddenly see many similar videos recommended to you. As for your search browser, it isn't much different.

To alter the algorithm, all we need to do is look up different things. We can even change the way we enter our search. Use different word combinations, add or delete one word in our search, and we'll get different results.

The digital world and the analog world operate the same way. If we want different results we have to change the information that we put into the system. Entering the same information all the time can lead us to believe that this is how it's supposed to be, or this is just how it is. But if you change what you put into it, you'll change the results that you get out of it.

The internet is a tool. As with any tool, how we use it determines what we get out of it. We can use this tool to confirm our reasoning, or to expose the holes in our reasoning. And either way we use it will give us the results we are looking for.

If we don't understand our own minds, algorithms will make our minds up for us. We just have to be smarter than the technology we're using.

As the saying goes; it's easier to convince people of a lie than to convince them they've been deceived.

Almost every time we click on something, someone is making money. But all that matters - all they are concerned with - is that we keep on "clicking".

What if algorithms are just exploiting our personal vulnerabilities?

Photo by Grant Krasner