Filterworld Audiobook Libro.fm

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK From New Yorker staff writer and author of The Longing for Less Kyle Chayka comes a timely history and investigation of a world ruled by algorithms which determine the shape of culture itself

Filterworld is about how algorithms changed cultureChayka asks what is taste What is a sense of aesthetics And what happens to it when it collides with the homogenizing digital reality in which we now liveEzra Klein

From trendy restaurants to city grids to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes be it in Nairobi or Portland and the skeletal modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small Over the last decade this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over almost unnoticedinforming the songs we listen to the friends with whom we stay in touchas weve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal

This evertightening web woven by algorithms is called Filterworld Kyle Chayka shows us how online and offline spaces alike have been engineered for seamless consumption becoming a source of pervasive anxiety in the process Users of technology have been forced to contend with datadriven equations that try to anticipate their desiresand often get them wrong What results is a state of docility that allows tech companies to curtail human experienceshuman livesfor profit But to have our tastes behaviors and emotions governed by computers while convenient does nothing short of call the very notion of free will into question

In Filterworld Chayka traces this creeping machineguided curation as it infiltrates the furthest reaches of our digital physical and psychological spaces With algorithms increasingly influencing not just what culture we consume but what culture is produced urgent questions arise What happens when shareability supersedes messiness innovation and creativitythe qualities that make us human What does it mean to make a choice when the options have been so carefully arranged for us Is personal freedom possible on the Internet

To the last question Filterworld argues yesbut to escape Filterworld and even transcend it we must first understand it