The more I write about tech, artificial intelligence, and algorithms, the more I sound like I’m talking about religion.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Humans Need to Know Why
Like many folks in this era of podcasts, I have listened to far too many true crime stories to be healthy.
There is one thing I find extremely fascinating about the families of the victims. They’ve expressed a common feeling that’s surprising, when the full fate of their loved-one isn’t fully known. Say a person has gone missing, evidence indicates they were likely murdered, but their body is never found, and the details are murky, the suspect isn’t talking, etc.
These poor folks will often say something like this, “Not knowing is the most difficult part. I would rather know that he’s dead than just not know anything.”
To me, that is an amazing statement.
These people, suffering at an intensity most of us will fortunately never know, say they would rather have confirmation that their loved one is deceased – rather than simply not know the horrible details of what befell them.
I’ve heard it over and over from the victim’s surviving families. Suffering a list of horrible emotions, they all say not knowing is the worst of all.
It’s common to us all. We humans hate not knowing. We are curious and we need to know why. It’s hard to reduce the evolution and success of our species to a more compact phrase.
Gods and Tech Upgrading in Sync
Our need to explain why things happen is so powerful that to relieve the agony, we’ll make up stories to explain it. Yes, I’m talking about religion right now, but the need to have a clear why applies in many other areas. It explains the popularity of fact-free conspiracy theories, and much more.
Of course, what feeds our explanations (fact-based or not) of why things happen are the ideas around us, is the current technology. As technology upgrades, speculations of “Why?” changes in parallel.
Early explanations of the unknown didn’t involve much tech. Everything simply had a spirit that animated it.
Then came Gods – the “alphas” of a tribe. They mirrored the ruling caste of growing bands of humans. Then God became a singular king-like being who ruled over mortals, since kings were the most powerful earth-based beings.
Now, in this computer age, we are seeing the emergence of upgraded “god theories” that match the currently most advanced technologies. God is an artificial intelligence, a computer, life itself is a simulation, etc.
As technology becomes a bigger part of people’s lives, I hear the same language in the explanations of how the mysterious algorithm works, as are usually used to describe the mysterious will of God.
The Mysteries of The Algorithm
While discussing the whys of algorithms, you’ll notice the same ideas and events that occur when people turn to religious thought. Where there is the unknown, there will be a rise of prophets who claim to have the answers, claim to have the ability to influence the algorithm (or God) and they will gladly share their knowledge — for a price.
On a writing forum recently, a person complained they were posting plenty of content on a social media platform but not gaining many followers. It’s well-known now that social site algorithms respond to “engagement.” Just posting isn’t enough. To get approval from the algorithm, you need to reply, like, and share others’ posts as well. Here was my suggestion to the would-be influencer:
The Mighty Algorithm rules all. You are not sacrificing enough of your time for it to consider returning your gift. You must interact with others and increase your holy engagement. Only then shall ye be rewarded.
I wrote it that way because it seemed the same solution offered in ancient times to influence the gods: make a decent enough sacrifice to increase the odds of them heeding your prayers.
I’ve joined in this new angle on the same old religion with phrases such as –
- Praise the mighty algorithm – may it bless my content.
- O, holy algorithm, I pray you use your mysterious powers to guide this post to many likes.
- Glorious algorithm, I have spent this last hour on your platform as sacrifice. Please now promote my influence.
I’m not freshly converted, I just figure if we’re going to use religious-like talk about the algorithm, we may as well make it sound more official.
And while I sound here like my tone is above it all, or sarcastically playing the newly converted, let me clarify. For I do know the true way to manipulate the gods old and new. I do indeed know the spell, the incantation.
There is one certain way to earn the favor gods digital and human… pay cash.
The One True God
Yes. That is my secret to manipulate the mysterious algorithm. I pay as little as possible for the cheapest ads I can afford — that will drive visitors to my books on Amazon.
A tribute to the real god behind all gods always works and always has worked. Because if there is one true god across all facets of humanity, it’s money. (For my fellow 80s kids, yes, the film They Live got it right.)
That type of tribute, that sacrifice, has reliably worked miracles for as long as there have been humans to wonder how to manipulate other humans.
I think the parallels between mysterious algorithms and religion tie up neatly in this final revelation. What we often call the unknown mysteries, or the motivations of a divine being are often just other mortals, hiding their knowledge, pulling hidden levers, and presenting a show. All to control a man-made system but make it appear divine.
As ever, what appears the presence of a mystical force is just someone putting their finger on the scale. They are easily and reliably moved with a tithe.
Image generated by Chat GPT A.I., prompted by the text of this essay.