200,000 years of human evolution, in which we discovered fire and invented the wheel, have brought us to the next frontier: what Wikipedia calls ?a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations.?
It doesn?t sound especially exciting, but algorithms have shaken up the world of computing. Of course, they have always been there under the hood–algorithms are simply the rules that govern how our software operates behind the scenes.
But now the algorithm is stepping out from behind the curtain. More and more of the services we use depend on it. Take your Amazon recommendations, for example. A recommendation algorithm mines your browsing and buying history to serve products you just have to buy. We all love the gods of logic for it. But for all of the benefits logic-driven services bestow on us, there is also a dark side. When there is a disconnect between the intentions of their creator and the recipient, when algorithms go awry, they can have disastrous consequences.
Facing pressure over claimed political ideologies of its news promotion, Facebook axed its entire human editorial staff, replacing the presentation with an algorithmically driven agenda, designed to mix top trends with individualize relevance.
Algorithms, unfortunately, can?t identify fake news stories as effectively as humans can. Shortly after, the platform was rife with fatuous stories, more partisan and deceitful than anything the editorial team had been accuse...