The inevitability of algorithms

I remember queuing to pay for parking one time. It was taking longer than usual as for this particular car park they had a different way of paying. While completely digital it was manual, new and required thinking about. The growing length of the queue indicated the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Algorithms affect our daily lives. They implement rules determined locally, regionally and nationally. From surcharges on financial payments to taxes on sales.

Algorithms aren’t always digital. Many existed well prior to the current digital age (Taxes, economics). Some are long running (mortgages, life insurance policies)

Algorithms control throughput. Algorithms implement ticket clipping. And with automation they increasingly control our world and our behaviour.

However they’re not infallible. The human ability to rort algorithms is unsurpassed. As consumption becomes intimately understood, algorithms get pushed to their limits by avarice and ideology.

Those that get in first typically benefit more (stock markets, gold, housing). Those that have more influence algorithmic outcomes (voting, markets, buying concert tickets)

Algorithms are poorly understood. Politicians tweak them to claim perceived benefits. But typically don’t manage them to the desired outcomes. (elections themselves being subject to an algorithm)

Algorithms control the pie and how that pie gets distributed. Inequity is maintained by algorithms. To reduce inequity the pie has to grow, and be apportioned appropriately. Those with pie usually don’t want to give up their share to those that are without pie.

And if the pie is consumed inefficiently then the pie doesn’t grow and sometimes can shrink. Having everyone have equal shares of the pie doesn’t seem to work either.

There are global, national, regional and local pies to be fought over. Governments can engineer their share of the global pie (America, China) through technology implementing ever more efficient algorithms.

The epitome of algorithms is Bitcoin. It creates an imaginary pie. Those that buy in first sell to those that follow, wait for a drop, then rinse and repeat.

Uncontrolled asset consumption naturally ends up with a few owning an unfair proportion of the pie. (Property)

It’s algorithmically inexorable.