*The year we get creeped out by algorithms* by Zeynep Tufekci It turns out computers have a built-in “uncanny valley” (that creepy feeling android robots generate when they kind of look human). Just like we don’t want robots too human-shaped — we want them to know their place — it turns out we aren’t too happy when our computers go from “smart” (as in automating things and connecting us to each other or information) to “smart” (as in “let me make that decision for you”). zeynep-tufeckiAlgorithmic judgment is the uncanny valley of computing. Algorithms (basically computer programs, but here I’m talking about the complex subset that is being used to calculate results of some consequence, which then shape our experience) have become more visible in 2014, and it turns out we’re creeped out. The most visible, cited, discussed academic article of 2014 was one which exposed the fact that Facebook uses algorithms to manipulate its News Feed — something a majority of people apparently did not know. Most of the discussion was outrage: The lead author received hundreds of disgusted emails asking how dare he manipulate our social interactions on Facebook; the reality, of course, is that’s what Facebook does every day, algorithmically. The Facebook experiment made visible what was always there, and raised more questions than it could answer. 2015 looks to be the year when we start grappling with the power and role of these complex algorithms — sometimes discussed as machine learning or artificial intelligence — and when a thousand more startups (and big companies, since they have a data advantage in fueling these types of algorithms) start trying to “deploy” them not just in apps and sites, but in our devices and objects as chips and sensors become more prevalent. […] Continua qui: http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/12/the-year-we-get-creeped-out-by-algorithms/