The Gradual Public Awareness of the Might of Algorithms

Soylent Mauve writes "The trend toward data- and algorithm-driven tuning of business operations has gotten a lot of attention recently — check out the recent articles in the New York Times and the Economist. It looks like computer scientists, especially those with machine learning training, are getting their day in the sun. From the NYT piece: 'It was the Internet that stripped the word of its innocence. Algorithms, as closely guarded as state secrets, buy and sell stocks and mortgage-backed securities, sometimes with a dispassionate zeal that crashes markets. Algorithms promise to find the news that fits you, and even your perfect mate. You can't visit Amazon without being confronted with a list of books and other products that the Great Algoritmi recommends. Its intuitions, of course, are just calculations -- given enough time they could be carried out with stones. But when so much data is processed so rapidly, the effect is oracular and almost opaque.'"

Re:Oracular, opaque...

[Paradigm_Complex]

I checked sources online, you're wrong according too... wait, crap.

Said one computer scientist

[Nicholas Bishop]

Said one computer scientist getting his day in the sun:

"I'm melting, I'm melting!"

This Just In

[the eric conspiracy]

Math is a really really powerful tool.

Re:Slightly O.T.

[mcpkaaos]

When I opened that PDF, my Windows calculator automatically launched, performed all of the calculations, and logged the results to notepad. Amazing!

Re:Oracular, opaque...

[morgan_greywolf]

Absolutely. I belong to several Yahoo and Google Groups geared at the neopagan crowd, and because the groups are categorized as 'religious' groups, the advertising always contains advertisements for 'End Times' books and appeals to join the United Methodist Church, etc. Then again, maybe this the algorithms are doing just what they're supposed to do ... :)

Re:State Secrets?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, Bush will be gone soon, and then everything will be fine.

Re:This Just In

[the eric conspiracy]

there American, fixed it for you.

This is an American site, you silly little British girlie - man.

Re:Oracular, opaque...

[TheRaven64]

I checked sources online, you're wrong according too...

Knuth?

Please note, the parent post may contain errors. I have only proved it correct, not actually read it.

Re:Looks like

[CheeseTroll]

Drums that raise our awareness of global warming.

Idiotic

[sirdisc]

This is completely idiotic. All logic works based on algorithms, whether it's in your head or in a computer. Only a monkey or someone with an agenda would write such article. "The Gradual Public Awareness of the Might of Algorithms" eh???????????????????

Could be worse...

[Chmcginn]

"People that bought this random hentai also bought dirty underwear."