It used to be believed that there is nothing more unbiased and straightforward as statistics. Numbers do not take opinions into account, making them a pure reflection of reality. However, as the overarching use of statistics, and especially varying incentives hidden from the common human being looking at them to prove a point was a precursor for statistics’ loss of credibility. So as much as we used to believe that algorithms were a succession of numbers, the incredible development they have undergone now show us that they do take opinions into account.
This graph represents how democrats and republics are more ideologically divided than ever in the past: when people used to be quite “centrist” in their ideas, they are becoming more and more apart.
The main problem with algorithm is that they are so complex and difficult to understand that we tend to accept them without asking questions. And their complexity added to our lack of knowledge about them and our fear of getting into it leads us to be incredibly naïve about the damage they can cause. Watching the documentary the Social Dilemma frightened me completely and made me delete every social network app from my phone. The way these algorithms feed themselves with my unconscious biases is alarming. The way they manage to deconstruct my thoughts and analyse things I don’t even know about myself is terrifying.
We all go on social medias hoping to find the truth. But these social medias were not created to give us the truth. They are not non-profitable organisations working for the common good. They are working for themselves, selling our unconscious biases, our tastes, our personalities to other companies. We are the product, not the consumers. Facebook, twitter, Instagram, snapchat are free apps for us, because we are being sold. And to keep us on their social media as long as possible, they have to feed us with information we will agree with, facts we like, so that they can sell us more. They will never give us the counter-opinion of our beliefs, they can’t create frustration, they can’t afford to let us turn off our phones.
A video giving us more details on how social medias triggers political polarization.
Therefore, the fact that we are constantly being comforted in our own beliefs, the fact that we are fed with information that suits us, statistics that match our opinions ultimately leads to a polarization of the world. People don’t listen to each other anymore, we are all fighting on different levels: it is no longer a battle of political opinion, but a battle of political information. The frustration and ponderation we should be encountering on social medias, allowing us to reflect and build strong arguments, as well as empathy and retrospective is something that is done through heated discussions, but by then it is already too late. We have incorporated our statistics, the dialogue is impossible.
I believe it will be difficult to change the system, as we are so dependent on these social medias. We would rather have false information than none. So we need to lose our naivety and look further, dig deeper into the information we are looking for.
We need to develop our empathy to be able to discuss and curb the overarching polarization of the world, and it is only after this palingenesis that we will be able to hope for a more united world.