Chapter 1
Look at what happened with Facebook!
The Algorithm: More Human than a Human?
Algorithms have come a long way in making our world a more efficient place. The reference in the book that “We create the data, so essentially our data is an extension of ourselves, an extension of our humanity.” From that point of view more human than human is extremely alarming. The algorithm is only as good as the operator reading and following along. Each time an algorithm is said to be ready to be on its own it is as if you left a teenager home alone.
Algorithms are not human and a decision making decision requires a mind to look at options based on several different inputs and outputs. Meaning a system with a huge amount of responsibility does not have a value of loss built in to possible consequences of the outcome.
To believe that a machine of any level can be as human as a human is false. I have always been amazed with why anyone would need or want to build any kind of a mechanism to be able to react human? Don’t we have enough humans in the world that we need machines that can have the built in capacity to be human or even more human than human?
Algorithms are a great way to have a simple and, or complex direction based activities that require no thought or human feelings. And, by feelings I am refereeing to the ability to know right from wrong morally. To state that any system can be human and that it is an extension of the person creating the algorithm is concerning. As we can see on the news when your turn on your TV, or when you read an article on the media. Not every human is good. Why on earth would we want an extension of them?
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