Summary of Filterworld by Kyle Chayka: How Algorithms Flattened Culture

By Justin Reese

DISCLAIMER

 

This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of Filterworld by Kyle Chayka: How Algorithms Flattened Culture

IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET:

• Chapter astute outline of the main contents.
• Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis.
• Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book

 

Filterworld is a book by Kyle Chayka, a New Yorker staff writer and author of The Longing for Less. It explores the world ruled by algorithms, which dictate the shape of culture. The book reveals how online and offline spaces have been engineered for seamless consumption, becoming a source of anxiety. Users of technology are forced to contend with data-driven equations that try to anticipate their desires, often getting them wrong. This results in a state of docility that allows tech companies to curtail human experiences for profit. Chayka questions what happens when shareability supersedes messiness, innovation, and creativity, and whether personal freedom is possible on the Internet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: jUSTIN REESE
• Release date: Jan 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224024711

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Filterworld

In 1769, Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen built the Mechanical Turk, a magical machine designed to play and win chess against a human opponent using internal clockwork gears and belts. The machine was so befuddling that it traveled internationally, matching up with Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. However, the Mechanical Turk could not actually play chess, as it was controlled by a human pilot. The pilot observed the game using magnet-connected markers underneath the board, marking the locations of pawns, knights, and the king. The pilot maneuvered the automaton's hand using levers and strings to grab pieces and move them. Smoke from a candle lamp leaked out of hidden holes in the back, and the internal clockwork was just for show.

The Mechanical Turk has become a prevalent metaphor for technological manipulation, representing the human behind the facade of seemingly advanced technology and the ability of such devices to deceive us about the way they work. Algorithms, shorthand for algorithmic recommendations, shape the vast majority of our experiences in digital spaces by considering our previous actions and selecting the pieces of content that will most suit our patterns of behavior. They are supposed to interpret and show us what we want to see.

In today's digital age, algorithms play a significant role in shaping our perceptions and attention towards various aspects of culture. These algorithms, designed and maintained by monopolistic tech companies, have a profound impact on our lives, influencing our relationship with culture and the ways it is distributed and consumed. Filterworld, the term used to describe this network, has had a significant impact on various aspects of society, including politics, education, and interpersonal relationships.

Filterworld has led to the rise of cultural successes such as the TikTok dance, the cliché design trends on Instagram, and the controversies on Twitter. Algorithmic recommendations dictate genres of culture by rewarding certain tropes with promotion in feeds, based on what immediately attracts the most attention. Platforms develop their own stylistic archetype, informed by biases of race, gender, politics, and the fundamental business model of the corporation that owns it.

The culture that thrives in Filterworld tends to be accessible, replicable, participatory, and ambient, with meanings that can be shared across wide audiences. It is also pleasant or average enough that it can be ignored and unobtrusively fade into the background. For example, the popularity of the Amazon coat in winter 2018 inspired the manufacturing of dozens of replicas and look-alikes, including one by Amazon itself.

Filterworld culture is characterized by a pervasive sense of sameness, even when its artifacts are not literally the same. This phenomenon has been observed in coffee shops across different cities, with the Generic Coffee Shop being a prime example. The café's interiors are consistently similar to those seen across the world, a phenomenon that surpasses the usual indicators of globalization. The phenomenon is attributed to the international harmonization of tastes of algorithmic digital platforms like Instagram, Yelp, and Foursquare, which encourage users to consume similar products and experiences in their physical lives. Algorithms manipulate users to find places that adopt digitally popular aesthetics, winning attention and ratings. However, the platforms that undergird these platforms are Western, largely based in Silicon