You might not have heard of the algorithm that drives the world. Very few people have, though it can determine much that goes on in our day-to-day lives. The food that we eat, our schedule at work, and when the train will come in to take us there.
Somewhere, in some server basement right now, it’s likely working on some aspect of your life tomorrow, next week, in a year’s time.
Maybe unawareness of the algorithm’s workings was bliss. The door to Plato’s Academy in archaic Athens there’s said to have borne the legend ‘let no one ignorant of geometry enter’.
That was easy enough to say back then when geometry was firmly grounded in the three dimensions of space our brains were built to cope with, but the algorithm works in totally higher planes. Four, five, thousands or even many millions of dimensions.
Perhaps, though, we should try slightly harder to get our heads around it, because effective though it clearly is, the algorithm is steering into a spot of bother, and the algorithm might not be quite as reliable as it once appeared.
Algorithms are behind numerous ordinary, but still significant, decisions in your life.
The code frequently replaces humans, but it doesn’t mean the results are infallible. An algorithm can be just as imperfect as its human creators.
Basically, the Facebook algorithm evaluates every post. It scores posts and then places them in descending, non-chronological order of interest for each particular user. This process occurs every time a user, and there are 2.9 billion of them, refreshes their feed.
Three examples of algorithms are as simple as the recipe for baking a cake, the way we use to solve a long division problem, the method of doing laundry, and the functionality of a search engine, but the question is, are algorithms dangerous?
There’s a long history of investigations of how flawed design, unintended bias, and negative interventions can cause algorithms to initiate enormous financial losses, facilitate unfair judgments, violate laws, and even cause deaths.
Algorithms can save lives, make things easier, and conquer chaos, but still, experts fear that they can also put too much control in the hands of corporations and governments, perpetuate bias, create filter bubbles, cut choices, creativity, serendipity and could result in greater unemployment.
So, what are algorithms used for in real life? Well, algorithms lie at the core of computing, and if you observe your surroundings, you’ll find several algorithms working to solve your daily life problems, such as social media networks, GPS applications, Google search, e-commerce platforms, Netflix recommendation systems et cetera, all these applications are powered by algorithms.
Is there a perfect algorithm, no there is not, and they frequently contain the prejudices of the people who have created them, but they’re still extremely useful and they’ve made all of our lives a lot easier?
So, what is a Google algorithm? It’s a complicated system utilised to retrieve data from its search index and immediately delivers the best possible results for a query. The search engine uses a variety of algorithms and multiple ranking factors to deliver webpages indexed by relevancy on its search engine result pages (SERPs).
So, how does a TikTok algorithm work? The TikTok algorithm is a system that makes content suggestions personalised for each user. It determines which videos a user might like based on their personal interests and displays them on the user’s For You Page and as a result, the For You Page is highly personalised for each user.
Basically, algorithms run the world and it’s a secret code that’s controlling our everyday lives, and we’re being watched, monitored and documented 24/7, it’s no surprise that some people have had enough, and the whole thing is extremely insidious and worrying, although at the moment algorithms are coded by humans – it’s the natural learning AI we need to watch out for.
At the moment these algorithms can only control your life if you let yourself become dependent on them and get addicted to devices and social media.
Unfortunately, most people have become addicted to these gizmos and social media, and of course, our cell phones, when we’re calling out for pizza.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 