Well, I'll Be An Algorithm!

How about you?

Algorithms date back to the ancient Babylonians who devised them as a method to solve complex mathematical problems. Over time, they came to be thought of as mathematical formulas.

Algorithms were essential to the development of computers and continue to be essential in computing operations. Each new generation of operating systems uses more advanced algorithms to function more accurately and efficiently.

Then comes another side.

Marketing companies began using algorithms to track online buying, searches, recording purchases, the websites we look at, medical questions we search.

Algorithms have completely invaded our privacy. They see what we see online, and they track where we go online.

Just once, click on an ad on social media and watch how those ads will become repetitive, with a slightly different content each time.

In the last few days, I “liked” a meme that I saw on Facebook concerning cats playing in litter. The next three days, I was inundated with ads offering cat litter from different companies. I clicked on ONE of them (always looking for a better solution for our cats’ health), that I thought I might be interested in trying it at some point.

At some point.

Over three days, I was inundated with ads from that company. Funny ads, ads about how their product is better for the health of my cats, ads about the financial advantages of using their litter. The latest demonstrated to me the environmental reasons I should get their litter. I cannot open Facebook today without getting a new ad from them. The latest asked me if I wanted to enter to have a chance to win a free bag of litter It is probably a six ounce bag, but still, they captured my email address, because I GAVE it to them, and now I receive daily emails reminding me of all the reasons that I want to get their litter. The last email offered me a money back guarantee if I give it a try.

In all honesty, after carefully researching it, I will quite likely decide to try it. After all, Chewy sells it at a discount for auto subscribe and the American Human Society recommends it.

But the point is that they were / are relentless and they escalate their offers using different approaches, hoping that one will speak to you. When they discover the one that worked, they will record it and it will be used by other companies who either share their algorithm or purchase it.

That is but one example of the way algorithms are being employed in marketing strategies, and especially on social media..

Now for the nefarious side that is controlling the brains of people everywhere.

Those websites and memes that you look at? They also show “the algorithm” your preferences in, say, social issues, how you feel about immigration, voting rights, which way you lean on universal healthcare, women’s rights to autonomy, racism, phobias of all sorts, and the algorithm suddenly knows what you think about certain things, including politics.

The more memes you look at, click on, like, the more clearly they know you.

Pop in an anger emoji and it will learn those things that make you angry.

You will see more and more of the memes, stories (AI generated) and photos that support what you believe.

Perhaps even subtly try to change those beliefs.

If we allow our minds to be controlled by memes, one liners, Artificial Intelligence generated news, fake or real, that support what the algorithm wants us to believe, then we have lost the ability to think critically.

We post the false stories because they manipulated our emotions. We post factual stories for the same reason, but we post or re-post them quickly because they were able to manipulate us. We want to share that which is pointed, cute, shocking, comforting, challenging and even informational, because we care.

Lori shared a story with me from Slate that she read yesterday. It was a story about masculinity (for another day and another writing) and a man’s search for belonging and friendship with other men.

He told of his desire to make friendships with other men, even if they were Trump supporters. He signed up for a “Christian Men’s Retreat” that promised to make him a whole man again. He would have to work hard, be willing to be vulnerable and talk about his own most personal fears, shame, and guilt.

He signed up, and as I read the article, I could see clearly how he was manipulated throughout the process to believe what they wanted him to believe. It was a chilling story of how they changed a man’s mind using algorithm, information manipulation, and emotional manipulation using brainwashing techniques. The men were subjected to extreme cold while exercising in the snow. They were deprived of sleep. They had their watches and phones taken away to isolate and disorient them, and the team went to work to mold these men into believing what they wanted them to believe.

At the end, they even included a warning that they would face challenges when they got home, so they needed to stay in touch with the leaders and their fellow participants to fight off the temptations to go back to who they used to be.

Chilling.

However, it helps me understand what has been the greatest mystery to me since Trump raised his head and opened his mouth the first time he ran for President.

He has told lies from the beginning. He had Kellyanne Conway there to re-define his lies as “alternative facts,” and that is where it all began.

His base would resonate with a certain campaign message, and they would double down on that in his insane rallies, in ads plastered all over social media, and in meetings with the hungry, insatiable media (who also helped create the mess we are in by covering every word he spoke).

He tells a lie to invoke fear in people who are already open to manipulation by their own fears. They lack the ability to think critically, so they need to be fed small bites. “Lock her up.”

“It’s the Immigrants.”

“They are taking yours jobs.”

“They’re eating your cats.”

“I will cut prices on eggs my first day.”

“The first day I will end the war in Ukraine.”

“The election was stolen!”

If it either assuages their fears or feeds their anger, they will bite. Every time.

So will we.

“Not going back.”

Well, we did.

“January 6th!”

All pardoned.

“Let’s get out the vote!”

We didn’t. They did. Well, maybe…

So here we are with a distinct call to make sure that our critical thinking caps are tightly seated on our heads. When the DNC sends us emails that say, “It is more important than ever for you to immediately send $25 to save democracy,” we have to stop and think, “what?”

I sent a whole lot of money to them a while back and they did not manage to save democracy. We are worse off now than we were six months ago, and some of them seem to want to convince us it is all, our fault because we are not giving them money.

What is the plan.? Think! What have they done since Inauguration Day? Whine and beg and threaten and do nothing. They feign helplessness, and many of us are buying it.

A few are holding rallies, getting people charged up with more memes and chants, because they are easy to say, easy to swallow, and say what we want to hear. Then comes the next city.

What happened in the last city? They got people excited and taught them some new phrases for their protest signs so they can line a street and have Trumpers ride by and blow their horns and flip them off.

It is time to think, not to chant or devise cute memes as though they represented a complete platform of a party that is failing and floundering.

The algorithms know us, which means those who have developed them know what we want, feel and think, and the folks who wrote them and use them want to manipulate us.

WE must think and devise the plan of action. If the Republicans can write Project 2025, certainly We the People can write a new plan for Democracy that is thoughtful, compassionate, equitable, inclusive, as well as protective of our country, all of our citizens, preserves our alliances and nurtures relationships with all of our allies, while working to weaken those who would destroy us.

It no longer can be all about thirst and bumper stickers, chants and merch.

It has to be thoughtful, critical, well-laid out, truthful and honest about our strengths and realistic about our weaknesses.

What else do we have to do these days? Things keep getting worse, and we keep doom scrolling.

Think. Evaluate and communicate with each other. We can start here.

Take a moment to research U.S. Representative Greg Casar from Texas. He is a real breath of fresh air, and a trove of new ideas of where we can make things happen.

Check out Senator Chris Murphy from New York as well, who is working the rules to expose what the dominant party is actually voting for, and against. He did his job in the Senate last night when Senate leadership decided to start a reconciliation vote at 6:00 PM, after the media pool had left for the night.

Decide what we will no longer stand for, sit for, or run after.

In Resistance,

Greg