Filterworld

How Algorithms Flattened Culture

De: Kyle Chayka

Narrado por: Kaleo Griffith

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 culture…[Chayka 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 live."—Ezra 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 unnoticed—informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch—as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.

This ever-tightening 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 data-driven equations that try to anticipate their desires—and often get them wrong. What results is a state of docility that allows tech companies to curtail human experiences—human lives—for 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, machine-guided 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 creativity—the 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 yes—but to escape Filterworld, and even transcend it, we must first understand it.

©2024 Kyle Chayka (P)2024 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Trying to quiet 'algorithmic anxiety’ and 24-7 digital overwhelm, Chayka posits, we tend to take refuge in the average. [Filterworld] urges us to throw off the blanket some influencer has convinced us is a necessity…Unlike the cascade of content from strangers on the internet, Filterworld, as a proper book will, evokes less transient impulses than genuine, lingering feelings: depression about our big-box corporate dystopia and admiration for Chayka’s curiosity and clear writing style.” —Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review

“Necessary reading for anyone who has wondered just how, in expanding our world, the internet has ended up emptying our experience of it. Chayka's wide-ranging anatomy of algorithmic curation—which, he argues, is increasingly the cultural substitute for human choice itself—makes a bracing case not only for creativity exercised beyond the confines of digital constriction, but also against the dehumanizing sameness algorithms have introduced into our societies and lives. Timely, erudite, important.” —Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Homeland Elegies

“Filterworld is a vital interrogation of algorithmic technology and its unrelenting power in shaping both our online and offline experiences. Chayka deftly explains how today’s social media ecosystem operates and, more importantly, reveals a way out of the ever-tightening grip of this stifling digital filtration.” —Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet

important book

important book about the effects of algorithm on culture...a must read. Should be taught im schools

Excellent argument

I loved the idea behind this book, and agree with much of the supposition of the author. Though it did seem a bit nostalgic and pretentious. Overall good to ponder upon, but the author did meander a bit much.

Here’s my ironic review

This book has a beautiful way of delivering some horrifying subject matter, namely, how algorithms have slowly removed our uniqueness, our sense of cultural and artistic “taste,” and displaced art for the sake of art.

Writing a review at all, means acknowledging the algorithm’s power over us, and it’s tendency to push books that get more likes and, well, reviews. Ironically? (looking at you, Alanis), my hope is that writing this review will inspire more of my friends to read it, and thereby, decide to remove themselves from algorithms 😇

One of the most important books of this time

Profound, inspiring and very important for understanding the current state of our culture. A must. Thanks (to the algorithm?) that made me discover it.

Everything has slowly become algorithm curated!

I found the info in this book to really shine a light on the thing that has been making me feel crazy. It has helped me deepen my understanding of what is happening when I get sucked into a doom scroll without realizing it. I espically enjoyed how the book ended on a positive hopeful note after bringing up all these issues that social media and algorithms create. Even at the end of the book audible suggested another book based on my listening habits! It’s everywhere!

Important book for mondern times

If you want to learn about the stickiness of modern-day populism, the decay of democracy (potentially reaching T-Doom), and the internal mechanics of social media, this is a must-read.

Important Book for Our Times

Somewhat dry, but I think vital analysis of how social media platforms and their algorithms are changing (negatively) how we consume and create art, but also discusses other societal effects. If you are sick of SM, listen to this book and you’ll get a better understanding as to why, and what you can do about it.

Ironic that the narrator sounded like an AI. So robotic and unengaged from the material. Would have been better if read by the author.

Blowing my mind

This book reframed my understanding of how I interact online and I’ll be thinking of it and referring to it for many months to come!

Excellent

This book is excellent! Very thought provoking and one I will come back to. Strongly recommend.

A solid half of the book

This insightful look at current events started strong, offering valuable context in the first half. However, the author's personal tangents later on detract from the overall focus. While the ending disappoints, the initial chapters are worth the read.