Algorithms, algorithms, algorithms. That’s all we’ve been hearing about for years now. And here we are, midway through 2023, watching the AI bandwagon race along at full speed, churning out generated content, videos, articles, the lot.
Bullshit everywhere, made by AI.
And the search results? Completely screwed.
Google’s algorithms haven’t caught up.
Did they ever? No.
Google has spent the last two decades playing catch-up with their algorithms, constantly trying to deal with SEO spam and people gaming the system.
Remember Panda? Penguin? Each update promised to fix things.
Each one created new problems.
But it’s not just search engines.
Social media runs on algorithms too.
- YouTube,
- Facebook,
- Instagram,
- TikTok,
they all do.
And here’s the thing, excluding the search engines for a moment, every platform using these God-like algorithms (which I swear can hear our thoughts even when we’re hiding in the loo) has designed them with one purpose: to keep us on the platform and to keep us coming back.
That’s it. That’s the game.
Algorithms aren’t neutral tools sorting content.
They’re manipulative systems designed to exploit how our brains work.
They learn
- what makes you click,
- what makes you scroll,
- what keeps you watching.
Then they feed you more of it. And more. And more.
Think about it. You watch one video about making sourdough bread and suddenly your feed is nothing but bread content for weeks. The algorithm has decided you’re a bread person now. You’re not allowed to have other interests until it’s squeezed every possible engagement metric out of your newfound bread obsession.
The problem isn’t that algorithms exist.
The problem is what they’re optimised for.
- Engagement.
- Time on site.
- Clicks.
- Ad impressions.
Not accuracy. Not quality. Not what’s actually useful or true.
Just what keeps you hooked.
And now with AI content flooding everything, the algorithms are even more confused. They’re trying to rank AI-generated articles that read like they were written by a committee of marketing robots. They’re pushing AI videos that look real but say nothing worth saying. They’re serving up content that’s technically optimised but practically useless.
Machines training other bloody machines!
We’ve built a system where the machines are training the machines, and we’re just caught in the middle, scrolling through an endless feed of algorithmically-approved nonsense, wondering why we can’t find what we’re actually looking for.
The algorithms aren’t serving us. We’re serving them.
We’re the product, generating data, feeding the system, making it smarter at manipulating us.
It’s mind control, just with extra steps and a nice interface.
And the worst part? We know it. We all know it. But we keep coming back anyway.
About this blog post: I know this isn’t a polished blog post and it’s not meant to be. This is one of many fleshed-out versions of notes I’ve scribbled down over several decades. Thoughts about life, the world, the internet, mental health, and whatever else was rattling around my head at the time. Some of them go back more than 40 years, to when I ditched the typewriter and moved to a PC in the mid-80s. Rough in places, occasionally uncomfortable, and very much real. That’s the point.