Algorithms Are A Cultural Artefact
Algorithms it seems, are everywhere and in anything that can be digitally connected. Fridges, cars, phones, dishwashers, ovens, ear buds, social media, websites, luggage, watches. The list it seems, is endless. They are the subjects of lawsuits, the scourge of bureaucrats and politicians. Fodder for journalists, mana for the A.I. hype machines. And a fundamental part of making our digital world work.
For the woes of our digital world, we lay the wreath of blame at the feet of the algorithm, for they drive all the moving parts that make up what we call Artificial Intelligence. But algorithms aren’t just part of AI. They’ve been around thousands of years.
When we understand algorithms as cultural artefacts, it helps us to put them into context in terms of understanding their role in our digital society and future. To develop regulations, to govern them with greater care, respect them and develop them in a more human-centric way. To build better products and services that serve our economies and societies.
If you’re wondering what. exactly, an algorithm is, the simplest description would be a recipe. If you’ve ever made anything from a recipe, you’ve used an algorithm. It’s not grandma’s secret cookie recipe, it’s grandma’s secret cookie algorithm.
Algorithms are a human invention. Even though some software may write their own algorithms and we ay not always understand how, the algorithms started with humans. Algorithms are a technological artefact of human culture.
The first known use of algorithms goes back around 4,000 years ago, to around 2,000 BC in Mesopotamia. The term comes from the Persian mathematician, Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi Who lived around 780 to 850 AD.
Even A.I. itself has been around for over 100 years. The first known use being an operational chess machine invented by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, which is still preserved. It uses algorithms.
But algorithms didn’t really enter broader sociocultural awareness until the last two decades or so. This was initially through search engines that started to rely ever more on complex algorithms to index information and learn how humans searched. Then social media companies started to apply psychology and behavioural economics (which also uses psychology) as mathematical formulas incorporated into algorithms.
Algorithms today are as bountiful in our digital world as red blood cells are in our bodies. We need blood to survive. Our digital technologies need algorithms to survive.
As we move further into the Digital Age, it is algorithms, not data, that are increasingly influencing and playing a role in not just how we live in the digital world, but increasingly, our physical world. Not only do they influence our purchase decisions, but they help save lives in healthcare, make stock buying and selling decisions, keep our power grid working and our factories humming.
It is often said that “data is the new oil” (a bit silly since oil is a finite resource and data is not), but it may better be viewed as a food source for the algorithms. Without data, an algorithm is useless. And data has no value until it can be processed into information and in turn, a human or an algorithm turns that data into knowledge from which actions can be taken.
Ancient scrolls and tablets were simply a data source until we learned to decode them. We turned them into information, then knowledge. We suspect that dolphins, whales and some primates use language. But it is just data until we can turn that data information. Algorithms will play a key role in unlocking the language of whales. We often forget that we too, are animals.
All technologies, including algorithms, are the result of human actions. From ideation, when we imagine a different future as the result of a technology, to actually implementing them and putting them out into the world.
It is humans who decide how a technology should be used. Our mechanism for doing this is called culture, which is our operating system for species survival.
Algorithms are a technology. They are based on language of words and math, which are fundamental tools of human survival.
This is why algorithms are a cultural artefact. They give us insight into past societies and play a role in our modern societies. They can be written on paper as much as they can be digitally coded into zeros and ones. They are a constantly evolving artefact representative of our past and present. They are a mathematical story of humanity.
When we talk of regulating A.I. what we really mean is regulating algorithms, because that’s where it all starts. We should not see algorithms as something separate from humanity, but as something part of what being human means.
Algorithms are a mathematical expression of what it means to be human. They work because they reflect our societies. They will work best when we apply the concepts, ideas and frameworks of human values and beliefs.
Algorithms are the warp and woof of what makes all the various tools we call Artificial Intelligence possible. And they are inherently human. We ought not blame the algorithms when they don’t serve us well, we must lay that at the feet of humanity. We can also celebrate humanity when algorithms do us good. And for the most part, they do.
