Algorithm: Difference between revisions

From metawiki
 
(10 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 2: Line 2:
[[wikipedia:Algorithm|Algorithms]] are the instructions that determine what a computer will do. In this [[wiki]], it can also refer to the [[generating equation]] that determines what a [[universe]] or [[culture]] will do.
[[wikipedia:Algorithm|Algorithms]] are the instructions that determine what a computer will do. In this [[wiki]], it can also refer to the [[generating equation]] that determines what a [[universe]] or [[culture]] will do.


"The Algorithm" also refers to the way that [[social media]] companies construct your [[newsfeed]] using [[AI]] that is [[incentivized]] for attention and therefore [[outrage]].
"The Algorithm" also refers to the way that [[social media]] companies construct your [[newsfeed]] using [[AI]] that is [[incentivized]] for [[attention]] and therefore [[outrage]].


Thinking algorithmically helps you break down [[Complexity|complex]] processes into their individual steps and decision trees. In a [[Technology|computerized]] [[society]] increasingly controlled by algorithms, understanding how they [[work]] is pretty important to understanding how modern [[society]] works.
Thinking algorithmically helps you break down [[Complexity|complex]] processes into their individual steps and decision trees. In a [[Technology|computerized]] [[society]] increasingly controlled by algorithms, understanding how they [[work]] is pretty important to understanding how modern [[society]] works.
Line 21: Line 21:


== Choose Your Own Algorithm ==
== Choose Your Own Algorithm ==
The fact that [[social media]] algorithms are designed to maximize attention and [[time]] spent on apps makes them dangerously [[addictive]] and [[promote]] [[outrage]] and [[polarization]]. Would you choose this algorithm if you had the [[freedom]] to do so? Almost certainly not.
The fact that [[social media]] algorithms are designed to maximize [[attention]] and [[time]] spent on apps makes them dangerously [[addictive]] and [[promote]] [[outrage]] and [[polarization]]. Would you choose this algorithm if you had the [[freedom]] to do so? Almost certainly not.


Algorithmic transparency is needed to prevent [[social media]] from destroying [[society]]. There are a number of ways to do this. The [[government]] can mandate that the algorithms be [[wikipedia:Open_source|open source]], or that they be optimized to maximize [[education]] or [[happiness]] instead of [[time]] on app.
Algorithmic transparency is needed to prevent [[social media]] from destroying [[society]]. There are a number of ways to do this. The [[government]] can mandate that the algorithms be [[wikipedia:Open_source|open source]], or that they be optimized to maximize [[education]] or [[happiness]] instead of [[time]] on app.
Line 28: Line 28:


== Algorithm Videos ==
== Algorithm Videos ==
Don't let the algorithm choose what you watch next! The more you learn about algorithms the less they can [[control]] you!{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hfOvs8pY1k||center|What is an algorithm?|frame}}
Don't let the algorithm choose what you watch next! The more you learn about algorithms the less they can [[control]] you!
 
Here are some videos explaining what algorithms do and how to think algorithmically.
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hfOvs8pY1k||center|What is an algorithm?|frame}}
<br>
<br>
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnBF2GeAKbo||center|What exactly is an algorithm?|frame}}
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnBF2GeAKbo||center|What exactly is an algorithm?|frame}}
<br>
<br>
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtSuA80QTyo||center|MIT Lecture Series - Algorithmic Thinking|frame}}
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtSuA80QTyo||center|MIT Lecture Series - Algorithmic Thinking|frame}}
== Algorithmic Complacency ==
Algorithmic complacency is the [[idea]] that people have become so used to algorithmically-driven content that they have lost their agency on the Internet. People have forgotten how to do basic Google searches, how to follow links that aren't in a [[newsfeed]], or how to properly curate their [[newsfeed]] to show you what you want instead of what the algorithm wants.
This incredibly insightful video highlights the effects that years of using [[newsfeeds]] has had on our [[brains]] and our [[free will]]. It was extremely prescient, as it was published shortly after having multiple conversations with [[wiki]] readers who failed to click any of the [[Connections|links]], and missed 99% of the content as a result.
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJpZjg8GuA||center|Algorithms are breaking how we think|frame}}
<br>
<br>
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k4p_3lJ74E||center|Algorithms are Destroying Society|frame}}
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k4p_3lJ74E||center|Algorithms are Destroying Society|frame}}
== The Algorithmic Universe ==
[[wikipedia:Stephen_Wolfram|Stephen Wolfram]] has applied the algorithmic, computational model to the [[laws of physics]], reducing complicated [[mathematical]] equations into simple computational models. [[Mathematics]] describes the outcomes of [[matter]] that is more likely behaving according to computational or rule-based methods. Compare the flight path of a bee plotted according to a derived [[mathematical]] equation, versus knowing the bee's internal [[logic]] that says "turn towards the pollen" or "protect the queen." If [[matter]] behaves according to similar rules, then it is better to understand the rules than to model the downstream behaviors.
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLMZAHyrpyo||center|How to Think Computationally About AI, the Universe and Everything|frame}}


== Game Theory and Gamification ==
== Game Theory and Gamification ==

Latest revision as of 07:51, 16 July 2025

Flowcharts are algorithms visualized

Algorithms are the instructions that determine what a computer will do. In this wiki, it can also refer to the generating equation that determines what a universe or culture will do.

"The Algorithm" also refers to the way that social media companies construct your newsfeed using AI that is incentivized for attention and therefore outrage.

Thinking algorithmically helps you break down complex processes into their individual steps and decision trees. In a computerized society increasingly controlled by algorithms, understanding how they work is pretty important to understanding how modern society works.

Algorithm Pages

Choose Your Own Algorithm

The fact that social media algorithms are designed to maximize attention and time spent on apps makes them dangerously addictive and promote outrage and polarization. Would you choose this algorithm if you had the freedom to do so? Almost certainly not.

Algorithmic transparency is needed to prevent social media from destroying society. There are a number of ways to do this. The government can mandate that the algorithms be open source, or that they be optimized to maximize education or happiness instead of time on app.

Another approach could be for platforms to allow you to choose among many different algorithms that are optimized for different goals. You pick whether you want your newsfeed to educate you, make you laugh, inform you about politics and current events, or only show you friends and family. This would be very easy for them to implement, they simply don't because there is no financial incentive. Any algorithm that optimizes for anything other than time on app will produce less short-term revenue. That is, until the users decide the platform is toxic and abandon it.

Algorithm Videos

Don't let the algorithm choose what you watch next! The more you learn about algorithms the less they can control you!

Here are some videos explaining what algorithms do and how to think algorithmically.

What is an algorithm?


What exactly is an algorithm?


MIT Lecture Series - Algorithmic Thinking

Algorithmic Complacency

Algorithmic complacency is the idea that people have become so used to algorithmically-driven content that they have lost their agency on the Internet. People have forgotten how to do basic Google searches, how to follow links that aren't in a newsfeed, or how to properly curate their newsfeed to show you what you want instead of what the algorithm wants.

This incredibly insightful video highlights the effects that years of using newsfeeds has had on our brains and our free will. It was extremely prescient, as it was published shortly after having multiple conversations with wiki readers who failed to click any of the links, and missed 99% of the content as a result.

Algorithms are breaking how we think


Algorithms are Destroying Society

The Algorithmic Universe

Stephen Wolfram has applied the algorithmic, computational model to the laws of physics, reducing complicated mathematical equations into simple computational models. Mathematics describes the outcomes of matter that is more likely behaving according to computational or rule-based methods. Compare the flight path of a bee plotted according to a derived mathematical equation, versus knowing the bee's internal logic that says "turn towards the pollen" or "protect the queen." If matter behaves according to similar rules, then it is better to understand the rules than to model the downstream behaviors.

How to Think Computationally About AI, the Universe and Everything

Game Theory and Gamification

Game theory and gamification are a central part of how modern social media algorithms work, and therefore end up gamifying your relationships. This is unhealthy.

This discussion of these topics with philosopher C. Thi Nguyen will get you thinking about how games and gamification impact our sense of agency, especially on social media. His book Games: Agency as Art is an excellent deep dive into this subject. There is also an excellent discussion of moral outrage porn.

Conspirituality - Games Against Humanity with C. Thi Nguyen

Algorithmically Recommended Music

Be mindful about your Spotify algorithm and it can introduce you to a world of amazing and diverse music. Some ideas about how to do this: [1][2]

Radiohead - Paranoid Android (Full Album)