The Algorithmic Future
In the Grim Bleakness of the Near Future, there is only the Uncaring Algorithm
This is going to be a strange piece. You may be familiar with my previous articles on games or politics, but this is going to be a more esoteric and strange. Let me also preface this by saying I'm not a professional. I have an undergrad education, but I have no education in sociology, anthropology, or culture. This article will also have a part two.
What drove culture in the past? There are several answers to this question. Religion, capitalism, the ruling, environment and outside factors drove culture. In the past, only royalty wore purple due to its expensive, hard to make nature. Style of dress flip-flopped between modesty and immodesty due to the relevance of religion and climate.
The English language has taken in bits of every language it has ever come into contact with. In our world, one can sample food from every corner of the globe
So what drives culture now? What influences culture now?
Social Media and underneath, the Algorithm.
What's driving a change in our language? A reduction in swearing and non-advertiser words and replacing them with awkward alternatives?
The Algorithm.
What drives trends in hair, make up, and clothes?
The Algorithm.
What influences sales in products? What helps drive a brand?
The Algorithm.
What promotes the most bizarre, hateful, and absurd beliefs for clicks, shaping our world view?
The Algorithm.
What spreads misinformation, acting as if it is truth?
The Algorithm.
What suppresses information inconvenient to the reader?
The Algorithm.
I wrote in my ChatGPT and Frank Herbert article that heavily relying on AI opens people and ideas up to manipulation. We've known since 2014-2016 that social media "echo chambers" manipulate people's beliefs and ideas.
Now, it’s evident that culture, practices, taste, and language are being manipulated as well.
While this could’ve started earlier, influencers got the ball rolling on this machine influence.
Consider The Loop
You could make this “Loop” for just about anything social media touches. TV shows, language, art, books, food, and other trends. Big account does something and it trickles down to everybody.
Stanley Cups are evident of this. Hydroflasks were the item to have until Stanley Cups got big on social media. It's customary to cover your water bottle with stickers. Getting more stickers or a dented bottle means buying another bottle and buying more stickers.
As of right now, this is a byproduct of the social media algorithms in place. It’s now leeched into the marketing space.
In my Frank Herbert piece, I hinted at more sinister applications for ChatGPT and AI. How they allowed people at the top to manipulate the users. Part two of this piece will dive into that a little more and the implications of such manipulations and feedback loops.
I’m Michael Vincent Hawthorne, writer for the Midnight Variety Hour. This piece and part two maybe a little weird compared to my other articles. However, that’s why I call this the Variety Hour. I’d hate to constrain myself to only one topic or genre.