Here's an example something that annoys the fuck out of me:<\/p>\n
Whenever there\u2019s something<\/a> technologically fascinating that is beyond my ken, I just imagine that tiny elves are responsible somehow. Sitting in a workshop, tinkering and tweaking away, perhaps whilst humming a merry tune. But alas, Netflix recommends new things for you to watch not due to the machinations of adorable wee workshop sprites, but through the science of algorithms<\/b>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here's another:<\/p>\n
The use of algorithms<\/a> in policing<\/b> is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them \u2013 and who, if anyone, is policing their use. Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms<\/b> to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One more:<\/p>\n
Sean Gourley is co-founder<\/a> and CTO of, a company that gets hired by governments and business to create algorithms. He says, \"From an algorithms perspective, this is a great time to be alive. Algorithms are just frolicking in the mountains of data that they can play with.<\/b>\"<\/p>\n
Gourley uses algorithms to predict insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan and help banks map developing markets for new technologies. As an experiment for NPR, he maps the development of the Occupy Wall Street movement. He uses algorithms to sort through about 40,000 blogs and articles written since the movement began and group similar ideas together<\/b>.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There are countless other examples.<\/p>\n
As all programmers know, an \"algorithm\" is a process, a way of solving a problem. That's all it means: the steps you take to solve a problem. It doesn't mean \"vaguely sinister artificial intelligence\", it means \"process\", \"technique\", \"instructions for solving a specific problem\". And it's not specific to computers (though it is most often used with computers and mathematics): a recipe for fried chicken is an algorithm, as are the directions to your house, so are step-by-step directions for folding an origami elephant from a dollar bill<\/a>. <\/p>\n
Yes, Sean Gourley uses algorithms to predict insurgencies in Iraq. He also uses one to drive to work, and another to make coffee, and another to do his laundry (step 1: put the clothes in the basket. 2: carry the basket to the machine. 3: put the clothes in the washer, etc.). <\/p>\n
In the first quote up there, I bolded a bit about \"the science of algorithms\" - a phrase which means something completely different from what Netflix is doing. Netflix isn't doing the \"science of algorithms\", Netflix is writing algorithms (aka, coming up with techniques and processes) to find interesting patterns in their customers viewing history. There are no elves, no demons. There are just computers mindlessly following the steps people have told them to follow in order to solve the same problems over and over and over. Humans identify a problem they want to solve (marketing), come up with the process (algorithm design), figure out how to get a computer to follow it (programming), and then the computer does it, over and over, and then ... profit!! <\/p>\n
But reporters apparently don't know this. It sounds like they start talking to scientists or engineers about something they want to about and when they hear the word \"algorithm\", instead of hearing it as a synonym for \"process\" or \"technique\", they imagine some mysterious and arcane entity that only the wizards of technology understand - some kind of semi-autonomous demon, created by dark magic, that can do all kinds of tasks<\/i>, and that obediently does its master's bidding (but which could probably kill us all, if it chose to). But the word has no sinister connotations - that stuff comes straight from the reporters' ignorant imaginations. And an algorithm isn't a general-purpose worker elf; it's a fixed set of instructions, written to solve a specific problem. <\/p>\n
Suggestion to journalism schools: teach your students what \"algorithm\" actually means - and on the next day, teach them how the US Senate works.<\/p>\n
\/rant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here's an example something that annoys the fuck out of me: Whenever there\u2019s something technologically fascinating that is beyond my ken, I just imagine that tiny elves are responsible somehow. Sitting in a workshop, tinkering and tweaking away, perhaps whilst humming a merry tune. But alas, Netflix recommends new things for you to watch not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}