How algorithms shape our world

Kevin Slavin, chairman and co-founder of Area/Code, describes how algorithms (processing tons and tons of data) are intertwined with our day-to-day and how they will change our future.

And the thing is is that this isn’t Google. This isn’t information. These aren’t financial stats; this is culture. And what you see here, or what you don’t really see normally, is that these are the physics of culture. And if these algorithms, like the algorithms on Wall Street, just crashed one day and went awry, how would we know, what would it look like?

Probably gloriously frightening. Watch the TED talk below.

[How algorithms shape our world | Thanks, Liam]

4 Comments

  • Ok so I understood maybe 25% of this. And it freaked me out.

  • The VPRO, one of the best broadcasting corporations of the Netherlands, launched a documentary app for iPad: Money & Speed. It’s all about the Flash Crash Slavin mentions, and filled with infographics and knowledgeable speakers. You can find it in the app-store if you search ‘money & speed’. (Interviews in English, narration in Dutch).

  • Parasitical impacts on the markets :(