All posts tagged: algorithms

How Facebook’s revolutionary News Feed kicked off the age of algorithms

How Facebook’s revolutionary News Feed kicked off the age of algorithms

Published by Miika Tikkanen

It is two decades since Facebook introduced the News Feed – letting loose a world in which algorithms would shape ever more of our lives. In 2006, Facebook was facing something of a crisis. Its internal data suggested that for the first time since its launch two years earlier (as TheFacebook), the company had stopped growing. People weren’t joining, and existing users weren’t spending more time on the site. The solution co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and colleagues came up with, the News Feed, meant individual users’ homepages would be automatically updated with information tailored to them – in particular, new posts their Facebook friends had added. Up to then, users had to actively check their friends’ profiles to see what they were up to. Now, this information would automatically be sent to your homepage. With it, a new world of algorithmic interaction was born. It might seem quaint now, but for many Facebook users at the time, these changes felt like a violation of their privacy and trust. If you were to change your relationship status …

More than Algorithms

More than Algorithms

Published by Sam Flores

This piece was awarded first place in the Humanists of Greater Portland’s annual essay contest for high school seniors seeking funding for post-high school education.  Every day reminds me how much we rely on tiny lines of code we never even see. Watching artificial intelligence evolve before my eyes has forced me to consider the preservation of human responsibility in a world with constantly changing technology. Advancing artificial intelligence doesn’t invalidate Humanism, but rather strengthens what the way of life asks of its followers. Humanists must prioritize human responsibility to ensure that accountability remains in human hands, despite technological advancements that surpass us in specific forms of intelligence. As articulated by the American Humanist Association, “Humanism… affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment” (“Definition of Humanism”). Artificial intelligence is not supernatural, therefore surpassing the preclusion by Humanism. Instead, AI complicates human-centered ethics. The technology can appear to replace human judgement. It impedes the Commitment of Critical Thinking, detracting from the human experience of “asking questions and thinking for [one]self” (“The …

Understanding algorithms — and how to make them work for you

Understanding algorithms — and how to make them work for you

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Algorithms are incredible tools. When run by computers, they can fly airplanes without human pilots. They can figure out how much insulin a teen with Type I diabetes needs minute to minute. They even decide what social media shows you — and billions of other people.  Your brain creates algorithms, too. It uses them to decide where to stand on the soccer field when you’re playing defense. Or map the best bike route to school. Or choose between multiple-choice options on a test. “An algorithm is just a fairly precise list of instructions to accomplish a specified task,” says Noah Giansiracusa. He’s a mathematician at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. Algorithms have been around since the beginning of human history. Hammurabi’s Code, for example, is a list of 282 rules from almost 4,000 years ago. A Babylonian king named Hammurabi laid out these rules for his subjects. They included things like the punishment for stealing an ox. (You had to pay back 30 times its value.) Those rules are perhaps the first “algorithm for justice,” …

Facts vs. Clicks: How Algorithms Reward Extremism

Facts vs. Clicks: How Algorithms Reward Extremism

Published by José Betancourt

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube On this week’s episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He examines the many actions President Donald Trump has taken that run counter to the ideals articulated in 1776, and considers how the Founders’ constitutional genius may ultimately be what frustrates Trump’s attempt to consolidate power. David is then joined by his Atlantic colleague Charlie Warzel, a staff writer and the host of the Galaxy Brain podcast, to discuss the temptations that come with launching a new podcast and the challenge of serving an audience that often rewards extreme content. Together, they talk about the responsibility that comes with hosting a podcast in a media environment that prizes clicks over truth. They also explore how conspiracy theorists have come to function as an alternate reality of “mainstream media,” and why the fight for truth may not yet be lost. Finally, David closes with a discussion of Edward …