The Internet’s Problems Can’t Be Solved with an Algorithm
We can’t keep blaming human behavior on the robots
When in doubt, blame the robots. As Facebook has fallen from grace and struggled to reconcile its role in spreading propaganda and stoking political anger, the company has proposed a familiar solution:
If the algorithm has failed, let’s just build a better algorithm.
It’s a noble goal for the next hackathon. As a mechanism for real change, however, the focus on software misses the point.
Facebook’s problems can’t be solved with more data or better code. They’re simply the most potent and alarming example of the fact that the internet has failed as a public forum.
Not long ago, the scientists and software developers who pioneered the World Wide Web thought it would democratize publishing and usher in a more open, educated, and thoughtful chapter of history. But while the internet and its offshoot technologies have improved society and daily life in many ways, they have been an unmitigated disaster for the way people communicate and learn.
It feels good to blame Facebook, but the crisis is evident in every nook and cranny of the web. The internet is crawling with normal, everyday humans who transform into vicious, nihilistic psychopaths…
