3 minute lesson
What Is an Algorithm? And Can We Use Them to Change the World?
What happens when our algorithms select the news we see and we completely miss what others are seeing? Or what if they start to affect the posts we scroll through?
With a little insight, we can use the algorithms in our world to improve life for everyone! They aren’t just for computer scientists anymore. Understanding the basics doesn’t have to be scary or boring. In fact, if we start to understand them we can help reshape the future!
The incredible thought leader Cathy O’Neil is taking a close look at our world’s algorithms. Her work helps us understand the role algorithms play in our lives, and what we can do to make them work better for all of us!
Here’s an animated piece from her talk with the RSA…
Why It Matters
Algorithms are everywhere! From Google searches to your Facebook feed. In order to appreciate how they can cause problems or can be more helpful, we first have to understand how they work.
They control a lot of what we see and experience. They are there to make it so we don’t have to scroll through endless posts to get the ones we like. Many algorithms are built to try to learn how to make our lives easier—giving us fewer choices to deal with, filtering posts we won’t like, and handing us recommendations from past purchases.
When it all goes right, we can be more informed consumers. For algorithms to serve humanity and the future well, we can’t passively float along without understanding how they shape our world.
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