Algorithms Might Be Everywhere, But Like Us, They're Deeply Flawed - Liwaiwai

As algorithms become entrenched into society, the debate about their effects rages on. In essence, algorithms are sequences of instructions used to solve problems and perform functions in computer programming. As mathematical expressions, algorithms existed long before modern computers. While they vary in application, all algorithms have three things in common: clearly-defined beginning and ending points, discrete sets of "steps," and design meant to address a specific type of problem. On the one hand, algorithms play the role of prime suspect -- responsible for the recent UK pound's Brexit-induced flash crash, used for political and informational manipulation on social networks, and part of what Harvard Professor Shoshanna Zuboff calls "surveillance capitalism".