What Is An Algorithm, Anyway? | Tech - Mashable

Mashable’s series Algorithms explores the mysterious lines of code that increasingly control our lives — and our futures.

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Rachel Kraus, Mashable Tech Reporter observes, The Algorithm” is impenetrable. It’s mysterious, it’s all-knowing, it’s omnipotent. Except that it’s not. 

What is an algorithm, anyway?
Photo: Bob Al-Greene / Mashable

An algorithm is a simple concept that, today, has many complex manifestations. Algorithms’ central and opaque position at the heart of social networks like Facebook cause some to view algorithms in general with a sort of mystical reverence. Algorithms have become synonymous with something highly technical and difficult to understand, that is either an arbiter of objective truth, or, on the other end of the spectrum, something wholly untrustworthy...

Mashable spoke with Pedro Domingos, a computer science professor at the University of Washington who has also written a book about the ever-growing role algorithms play in our lives. Before you go being alternatively impressed by or distrusting of the next computer algorithm you encounter, get back to basics on the concept that’s powering our world.
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Source: Mashable