“What Algorithms Want” Review
The following is a review (from pg 1 to 30) of Ed Finn’s book called “What Algorithms Want”
Over the last few years, the term “algorithm” has become a metonym for the complex mixture of computational techniques and computer programmes that support communication which shape our everyday lives. It is in this facade, as Ed Finn reminds us in ‘What Algorithms Want’, that algorithms have developed a quasi-mythical status, as some form of sorcerers that are able expose our most intimate selves, the inner working of our societies and even the deepest constructs of the universe. Finn begins with a discussion on the nature of algorithms and how they have changed over time. He sets out to define what an algorithm is and how its definition has become linked to broader social and cultural understandings. We should not be naive and think of algorithms as just mathematical recipes for solving problems. For, as Finn argues in this book, algorithms are better understood as “cultural machines”, that is, “complex assemblages of abstractions, processes, and people”, which for certain involves all sorts of social, cultural, and economic assumptions.
The Cathedral Metaphor is the similarity between software and cathedrals. “First we build them, and then we pray”. There is a deep truth underlying this comparison. One way to see this is that Cathedrals represent an abstraction, manifestation of power, faith and perseverance. The other way is that a cathedral is a building where most important bits are invisible, hidden and unspoken of, just like a software. We only enjoy the view of the visible surfaces but ultimately it is the unspoken, invisible, symbolic work happening behind the walls of the visible interfaces that is important. The flaw discussed by Finn in this metaphor is the functional fixedness of cathedrals in our thoughts. Once the structure is built, it is completed and may take a long time to go through a change. However, the modern software cathedrals are constantly evolving for everyone of us as individuals. Instagram for example, customises every aspect of the user experience for each one of us everytime we access the platform. We need to realise that many such sophisticated softwares are observing us, they hear us and even watch us, adapting their behaviour while we continue to use them.
Finn traces the growth of algorithms through developments in computational logic, cybernetics, information theory, and computer programming. He connects critical analysis of the impact and nature of such developments. He sees the transformation of algorithms from the lens of a pragmatic definition of an algorithm to a computationalist one. A pragmatic defines an algorithm as a ‘ way of solving a problem’. As per Google, algorithms are computational formulas that take your questions and turn them into answers. Here the problem with modern algorithms is that they are beyond just code and include many cultural factors. Thus the pragmatist’s algorithm becomes an organising unit that categorises and defines our social and cultural constructs to solve problems. In this case, the algorithm from the pragmatist’s view is a description and categorization, with abstraction, of the larger world. The author argues that most modern technology is created through a pramatic’s lens, a new “computationalist” understanding of algorithms is developing. A computationalist ignores the idea of the algorithm as a description of the world and rather views it as mapping the world into the structures of algorithms.
The book emphasizes the shift from algorithms embedded within machines to algorithms as complex assemblages embedded within culture. They are changing the nature of culture and becoming accessible cultural machines that drive the modern society by abstracting social, demographic, economical and political structures that run the worlds, making them “efficient”.
Our reaction to algorithms today is the notion of the mind as a symbolic system. Philosophers argue for the deep link between ‘language, consciousness and the construction of reality’. Language is the OS for the human mind. Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash goes further to imagine a reality with a universal OS for the mind that can be hacked and reprogrammed. The possibility is endless with the refinement of intelligent machines continues to evolve. The strong play of philosophical analogies, techno-historical references and examples of today’s most popular platforms has captured my attention to further read the book.
