How does the Violence Algorithm Work
The use of the violence algorithm is another way that political actors are exploiting people for their ends.
The recent happenings in the United States have brought the emergence of a new trend in artificial intelligence and deep learning: the Violence Algorithm.
It refers to the propensity for the existence of a dataset that describes individuals’ or groups’ abilities and affinity for violence.
The violent behavior that such individuals or groups exhibit is based on certain interests which can also be measured based on their interactions.
Tech Giants Have a Lot of Power
Conspiracy theories aside, the technology giants have a lot of power behind their artificially intelligent engines.
These engines have been able to define individual preferences accurately.
So much so that all tech giants have one profile or the other that accurately describes the personality of every individual user.
The data algorithms that drive these platforms (search engines, social media, and so on), can perceive and know individual wants and needs.
It has given the tech giants the ability to determine how people think and in many cases predict individual and group responses to stimuli.
As bizarre as it may seem, there are advantages to this aspect of data operations.
When it comes to advertising, it has become easy to predict how individuals and groups of individuals will act to certain individual factors such as sound, color, words and phrases, and so on.
It has helped to create a strong and virile digital economy.
On the flip side, it has also created dark trends.
These datasets have brought out the monsters that under other circumstances would have otherwise remained hidden.
Dark Gladiators Abuse their Understanding of how Data Science Works
From a Manchurian perspective, we now have individuals and corporate entities whose job is to fish out malicious intent.
Once they figure out this malicious intent, they then fan the flames
Cambridge Analytica was just one of the firms that made their intentions publicly obvious.
There now exists a plethora of organizations that do digital analytics for political activity.
Even if most claim not to have any negative influence on political activity, one way or the other, they enable such violent tendencies.
On the other end of the swing, we have the Autocrats, despots, and their many enablers who have figured out ways to game such algorithms.
Political Actors have Newly-Found Powers
These individuals may lack technical skills. But they make up for this lack of technology skills in people skills and uncanny insights into human behavior.
That alone has led to the emergence of sexual algorithms, violence algorithms, and others based on interest.
The political despots have been able to use this in many cases to their advantage.
They have figured out a way to use the internet vertical to achieve their ends without the costs associated with it.
The existence of the violence algorithm itself has caused these would-be despots to assume they have special powers.
It has also induced many of them to have delusions of grandeur.
The world witnessed some of these effects at the recent storming of the US Capitol during traditional electoral proceedings.
The buildup to that event was the consistent goading of his core base to violence by US President Trump.
In the aftermath, the big tech companies realized what had been the cause and they decided to strip the would-be Autocrat of his digital powers.
It however points to the emergence of a new trend that if left unchecked could undermine other systems other than the political.
The Violence Algorithm Could Change Our Way of Life
In the worst-case scenario, the violence algorithm could instigate others who have seen Donald Trump’s success. They could also try to mimic his pattern to see if they have a chance.
The issue is they could.
The reason for this is not the violence algorithm in itself but rather the way technology systems are built.
Donald Trump somehow figured out that these technology platforms are interest agnostic themselves. However, they are capable of grouping individuals by individuals and lumping them together if a leader could find a way.
The US President found a way and used it much to everyone’s dismay.
The latest Capitol Hill incident itself was the culmination of a series of actions that pushed many to do the unthinkable. Others seeing how exactly he did it will also want to try similar methods.
The danger is not in them succeeding because the mathematical probability exists that they would.
The danger is in the emergence of a generation that could manipulate people to exactly what they want.
It is what the violence algorithm has brought us to.
This is the Decade of Master Manipulators
We have entered into an era where anyone who understands how specific algorithms work will use them to their advantage.
While being able to code provides a fundamental edge over others, an understanding of algorithms is another skill that can be used without coding.
Legally, some people teach courses on figuring out many of the technology platforms that we have.
On the illegal side, others teach would-be criminal elements on this as well.
The danger for the illegal issue is that the emergence of newly discovered algorithms poses a threat to the securities of individuals and whole countries.
Manipulation Just Got Technical
Mass manipulation now becomes easier with the advent of social media.
Rather than use the tools of mass media to cause havoc and unleash mayhem on particular individuals or places, the use of technical tools serves as a better alternative.
That is to those guys who have figured out that the violence algorithm exists.
Speaking of manipulation, it is now easy to manipulate consumers to purchase goods or services based on similar algorithms.
A small example problem of investigative search for homegrown violent extremists.A small example problem of investigative search for homegrown violent extremists.A small example problem of investigative search for homegrown violent extremists.
These insights are now referred to as market research for the discerning.
It has led to many investigations into trade infractions by governments.
However, that hasn’t deterred those who perform these manipulative activities.
The death of the pure individual and collective choice, it seems, is at hand.
Freewill has Digital Variants
It seems that the rise of the technology giants has created a paradigm where freewill now has digital variants.
These variants such as the violence algorithm are now stored in server clusters around the world.
Though the main intent of these digital variants is for advertising purposes which can be regulated, a few people have discovered how to use them for their ends.
Sadly, self-regulation even by automated systems will never be enough.
The reason for this is that there will always be those who will find ways and means to outwit even the best systems, no matter how secure they are.
And these digital variants themselves will always be subject to abuse no matter how altruistic the motives of their creators are.
Digital Dictators will Assume Power
In the new decade, the human and technical checks and balances that once held sway no longer do with strongmen like Trump, Murduro, Kim Jong-Un.
The emergence of the violence algorithm and other such algorithms is an example of what power will be like in the third decade of the twenty-first century.
We now have people who understand how the software works and are willing to use that understanding for their ends.
They will also gain massive influence over others who don’t understand that they are manipulated.
That is what digital dictatorships will look like in this decade.
And the violence algorithm is just the beginning.
