Don't get swept up in the fear of algorithms, you might not like it

The ability to explain algorithms has always been a badge of nerdhood, the sort of trick people would ask you to perform when conversation flagged at a party. Nowadays, everyone thinks they know what an algorithm is, and many people don't like them. Algorithms seem to have achieved this new not...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PC pro no. 262; p. 26
Main Author: Pountain, Dick
Format: Magazine Article
Language:English
Published: Bath Future Publishing Ltd 01.08.2016
Subjects:
Algorithms
Boring
Complexity theory
Conversation
Crushing
Digital media
Neural networks
Social networks
ISSN:1355-4603
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The ability to explain algorithms has always been a badge of nerdhood, the sort of trick people would ask you to perform when conversation flagged at a party. Nowadays, everyone thinks they know what an algorithm is, and many people don't like them. Algorithms seem to have achieved this new notoriety because of their use by social media, especially Google, Facebook and Instagram. Some newspapers are having a ball with algorithm as a synonym for the inhumane objectivity of computers, liable to crush our privacy or worse. What algorithms can and can't do is the subject of algorithmic complexity theory, and it's only at the most boring party that one will be asked to explain that.
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ISSN:1355-4603