algorithmic anxiety

The algorithms that shape our cultural landscape are not inherently malicious. They are indifferent. Their purpose is not to destroy art but to optimize engagement—a goal that, while profitable, is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of artistic innovation.

“The idea that we get our information as citizens through algorithms determined by the world’s largest advertising company is my definition of dystopia.”

In the post-hipster era, you listened to what Spotify told you to listen to. If you read a book, it was because the precise pattern of blobby pastel-coloured shapes on its cover contained coded instructions to TikTok’s algorithm that sent it zooming to the top of your feed. Your tastes and preferences were decided for you by vast crystalline... See more

What we’re not noticing enough is the fact that algorithms have flattened our cultural landscape and induced a sense of passivity and numbness, challenging our capacity to engage deeply or be genuinely curious.