Why is it that when it comes to novelty quizzes we enjoy being analyzed by simple algorithms that divide and reduce us into a limited number of determinate categories, but when it comes to Google and the NSA we’re terrified of the same thing? My theory is that it is a collective manifestation of a psychological function that Sigmund Freud called displacement.... In this case, rather than focusing on the algorithmic targeting and surveillance that has become so ordinary in our everyday lives, we distract ourselves by focusing on meaningless algorithmic categorization. What’s more, because these novelty quizzes are so obviously inaccurate, they don’t scare us. Heck, they don’t even challenge us to be introspective. We brush them off as “merely entertainment,” forgetting that by participating–through the act clicking–we’ve once again provided Google with a plethora of personality data that is forever stored in our file.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 18:00:29 +0000
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