“The Algorithm” Does Not Exist

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/the-algorithm-social-media-facebook-technology-the-apparatus

"The truth is more unsettling: We are living with technology moving at an inhuman speed, operating at scales simultaneously smaller than we can detect and larger than anyone can comprehend."

"The fact that we see agency—often cruel but at least human—in the algorithm reveals our fundamental need for interpersonal connection. It lets us imagine someone like Zuck in control, instead of adrift in “the apparatus” like the rest of us. We wish Big Brother were watching. But we might just be alone with our phones."

https://crookedtimber.org/2024/01/29/the-algorithm-is-the-only-critique-of-the-algorithm-that-the-algorithm-can-produce

"The most important technological component of social media is quantified audience feedback. Indeed, I think this is the correct definition of “social media.” It’s not a binary—media is more social the more the audience is present, the more that the media object facing the consumer is co-created by the original author and their audience. American Idol’s call-in voting thus made it more social than previous television. Twitch livestreaming chat is perhaps the most social media, conducive to connective effervescence."

"When we communicate via social media, we are not communicating with other people. We are communicating with The Apparatus. But it doesn’t listen. It responds—and trains us to respond back."

Posted in: s/TheHumanCondition

🐵 akkartik [mod]

Jan 30 · 4 months ago · ❤ 2