The Tyranny of the Algorithm

There used to be a joy in stumbling upon something strange. Finding a bizarre album in the back of a record store, or a weird, unclassifiable novel in a used bookstore. These discoveries felt personal because they were accidental. They were unmediated by a machine trying to predict what you would like based on what you had already consumed.

Today, our cultural discovery is managed by algorithms. Netflix tells us what to watch, Spotify tells us what to listen to, and Amazon tells us what to read.

The problem with this system is that algorithms are inherently conservative. They look at your past behavior and serve you more of the same. If you watch a documentary about true crime, you will be inundated with more true crime. The algorithm never suggests that perhaps you might enjoy a 1960s French New Wave film, because there is no data to support that leap.

As a result, our cultural diets are becoming increasingly homogenized and predictable. We are trapped in filter bubbles of our own past preferences, never challenged, never surprised. We must actively resist the recommendation engine. We must seek out the weird, the difficult, the un-recommended. We must reclaim our right to be surprised by our own tastes.