Although my first coding lesson was more than a decade ago, I am still surprised by how much I do not know about this simple but powerful concept of algorithm. My first impression of 'algorithm' is a unique, genius, concise collection of steps designed to solve a certain set of problems using a finite amount of input. Much contrary to music or art where you are encouraged to freely explore in different direction, algorithm is more efficient when the programmer (or designer of the algorithm) has a clear goal in mine and narrows down all the possibilities and use cases.
There are two points that provoke me in this reading this article and our classmates' response:
That algorithm allows computers to predict our behavior and uses that information to adjust the environment accordingly is not a new fact to me. In fact, as a computer scientist, being able to predict such complex thing as human behavior has been always a dream and a goal much worthy to work for. I of course do understand that the advent of such ability also means tremendous amount of inherent problems, so I just offer a few observations about this.
Firstly, there are ways to prevent the machines from knowing about you. Proxy can be used in downloading without leaving traces, buying can be done via super market instead of online purchase, social networking can be achieved in a traditional way rather Facebook or Twitter. As the amount of information increases at an exponential rate, the technology and tools to cope with it also become much more powerful. And we can't use the definition of privacy and security in the past as a standard in the new information age.
Secondly, it's time to put knowledge about algorithm and computer as one of the top priority in learning. The benefit from these understandings will not only limit to the capability to achieve things but also the ability to partake in importance decisions such how the search algorithms are made and for what purpose.
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