Anna Wiener in Uncanny Vally

Wherever I traveled on the internet, I saw my own data reflected back at me: if a jade face-roller stalked me from news site to news site, I was reminded of my red skin and passive vanity. If the personalized playlists were full of sad singer-songwriters, I could only blame myself for getting the algorithm depressed.

Living inside an algorithm, like we all do, has no upsides. We are all stuck seeing everything that people ‘like us’ are doing. Ourselves reflected back at us and informing the choices we make next. We’re pigeonholed and controlled by an algorithm that makes it almost impossible to break out of.

Even when we do, and come across someone who doesn’t have the same feelings towards things we do, trouble is bound to happen. Other people don’t understand us as much as the machines, and as such other view points get us upset. The world online thinks the same as us, so why doesn’t the larger world outside?

This is further exaggerated when you live in somewhere like Silicon Valley where the online world is built by the people in your outside world. Shudder.