The dangerous power of Algorithms

[Steve3007]

So doesn't this lead us toward the conclusion that the problem here is not algorithms, but Capitalism? American, Free-Market, Continuous-Growth, Capitalism. It seems to be the search for profit that is leading people 'astray', no?

This is looking like a continuation of our conversation about whether America is the spiritual home of free-market capitalism where I cited the coffee shops of London as evidence that we Brits got their first! (Just like we invented the internet.)

No, I'd say that capitalism, and the profit motive, isn't the root cause any more than algorithms are. I don't share the view that you seem to have about free-markets. I think free-markets are a useful tool, but they're not a panacea. They need to be regulated and they're not the solution to all problems, but I wouldn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[LuckyR]

I don't see a retreat from the conquest of social media in this Post Truth era. The rabble isn't going to get any more savvy. Thinking otherwise is like betting against advertising or betting that isn't "a sucker born every minute".

I'm still in shock at the accuracy of your description of our time as the "post-truth era". Years ago, when I saw the beginnings of things like facebook, youtube and wikipedia, I thought we were on the brink of a new era of truth that might carry on indefinitely. We no longer had to rely on the media or the government for information. We could bypass them and inform each other directly. We could find the truth and spread it and reinforce it. Upvotes and downvotes should be pushing the truth to the top. We should be more savvy, not less.

It turns out that I was projecting my own desire to learn the truth onto others. Lots of folks want to retreat into their old or simple ways of categorizing and understanding the world. They don't care about the truth; they care about what they want or what they fear. They don't want to do the right thing; they want to do what benefits them best. They don't want a fair political system; they want a system that gives them the most (though many of them can be duped into thinking they are benefitting when they are being abused). People are easily led away from the truth by giving them something to fear or telling them that their selfish interests just happen to coincide with the morally correct system (GE Morton's system of "ethics" comes to mind).

I definitely did not foresee advent of the click farms and the bots and the algorithms. But, once you know of the existence of these things, it's easy enough to see where they lead. Still, there are simple methods we could use to combat these problems, but we have to care enough to try in the first place. I don't see how you can force truth upon people who don't want it, especially when those in power see a selfish motive for spreading lies. When I saw the events in Washington in January, my hopes for our future grew very dim. I have grave doubts about the future of our country, democracy and human rights in general. If people can be moved by a pack of obvious lies into thinking their worst instincts and emotions somehow represent right thought and right action, what reason is there to think we will get wiser and kinder? Fear and hate and greed and jealousy still have too great a hold. That sad episode simply brought them to the surface where we could see them (if we care to pay attention).

Sad, isn't it? The proliferation of social media and cell phones has given Big Tech the ability to automate the molding of minds. The algorithms you cite are like a series of electronic Skinner boxes that train folks to push buttons that connect to money acquisition. And oh by the way, you can influence thoughts and minds while Big Tech reaps billions. Win, win (for them and those invested in them).

You are correct, the ability to research at a few keystrokes is a huge boon, that alas the rabble is too lazy to take advantage of. Before the interwebs the ambitious read newspapers and the lazy listened to news radio or watched network news. Folks got the truth as filtered by professional journalists. Now folks don't go get the news, they are spoon fed headlines based on their search histories. Ever more right leaning for one group and ever more anti-right leaning for the other (somehow the left got lost in the shuffle). True, all the information is available as never before, but only a tiny fraction look anything up.

[Terrapin Station]

Who are you criticizing

Anyone buying the conclusions in question, at least without a better presentation of the methodology involved in reaching the conclusions.

[chewybrian]

Who are you criticizing

Anyone buying the conclusions in question, at least without a better presentation of the methodology involved in reaching the conclusions.

I did try to find the original Facebook research, but I could not find it. Again, though, it is Facebook's own research, and they have no incentive to make themselves look bad, and they have more feedback than anyone else could have about their own customers to see how their methods were impacting their customers. I trust the Journal enough to think they are not printing nonsense, and I have no way to do this thorough analysis you demand, if I even wanted to devote the time required.

[Sculptor1]

Yes the dangerous power of knives.

Let's get rid of all those nasty object that can be used to kill people.

Ooops what am I going to use to chop up the cabbage for my coleslaw?

We use algorithms to make a cup of tea.

[Terrapin Station]

I did try to find the original Facebook research, but I could not find it. Again, though, it is Facebook's own research, and they have no incentive to make themselves look bad,

Sure. Which in no way implies that the methodology or epistemological understanding of it was exemplary. We'd have to look at it.

[Tegularius]

When algorithms are created as digital memes that spread like a virus through social networks it becomes a form of brainwashing without feeling as if one were overtly forced into it. Minds will yield to the consensus of a group, which can be very large, with whom there is felt to be something in common and whose directives will then prevail.

In a country extremely partisan, like the U.S., the effect of such algorithms are magnified...exactly what its enemies want without any grave consequences to themselves as would happen in an actual war. Those like Putin understand perfectly how both capitalism and democracy can undermine itself from the inside when infected through disinformation causing dismemberment of a society constitutionalized to yield to one flag. Unless the immune system of a society is strengthened, a slow corrosive decline - already happening - is inevitable, not only a U.S. but overall signalling a Western decline.