DZone
IoT Zone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
  • Refcardz
  • Trend Reports
  • Webinars
  • Zones
  • |
    • Agile
    • AI
    • Big Data
    • Cloud
    • Database
    • DevOps
    • Integration
    • IoT
    • Java
    • Microservices
    • Open Source
    • Performance
    • Security
    • Web Dev
DZone > IoT Zone > How Algorithms Shape Our World

How Algorithms Shape Our World

Data analysis and computation are becoming more ingrained in our daily lives. Algorithms deployed by IoT vendors are impacting many different aspects.

Adi Gaskell user avatar by
Adi Gaskell
·
Aug. 31, 16 · IoT Zone · Opinion
Like (5)
Save
Tweet
2.49K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Master-Algorithm-Robot

It’s well known that algorithms play an increasingly huge role in our lives, whether it’s delivering search results, filtering our job applications, helping to select potential dates or even driving our vehicles for us.

The extent of their influence on how we perceive the world was highlighted in a recent paper that was published in Information, Communication & Society.

I suspect most of us are aware that much of what we access online is fed by an algorithm of some sort, whether it’s our Facebook newsfeed or the accounts Twitter suggests we follow. While it’s tempting to think of algorithms as rational and anodyne, they often have a number of biases that can support stereotypes or restrict our choices.

The Robot Brain

Increasingly, algorithms are not taking a passive role but actively informing our decision-making, whether it’s telling us which selfies to choose or what is the best route to work. We are increasingly relying on a machine to make decisions for us.

This, in turn, the authors argue, is reinforcing in us the belief that data is all powerful. Wearable devices are capable of tracking an ever wider aspect of our life, with algorithms then typically analyzing our performances for us.

“By delegating everyday practices to technological processes, with the resultant need to break down and reduce complex actions into a series of steps and data decision points, algorithms epitomise and encapsulate a growing tendency towards atomization and fragmentation that resonates more broadly with an increasing emphasis on singularity, quantification and classification in the everyday,” the authors say.

What appears clear is that, for good or ill, our dependence upon algorithms is only set to increase.

Algorithm

Published at DZone with permission of Adi Gaskell, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • Key Takeaways: Adrian Cockcroft's talk on Netflix, CD, and Microservices
  • Conceptual Architecture: Conversational AI/NLP-Based Platform
  • CoffeeScript: a TDD example
  • Parsing JavaScript with JavaScript

Comments

IoT Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • MVB Program
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends:

DZone.com is powered by 

AnswerHub logo