Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture

Kyle's writing, in all its venues, has meant a great deal to me for a very long time. He gives words to the thoughts I didn't think could be put to paper, and he does so with care, reflectiveness and a deep perceptiveness. This book feels like the beautiful byproduct of so much of his writing over the past few years, weaving together observations and experiences about the internet, culture, art, design and human beings. Sometimes, the conclusions he arrives at feel somewhat obvious: for instance, we should be more intentional about how we curate our own taste. But this “obviousness” betrays a radical, humanistic reminder: we are what we consume and if we do so a little bit less online and with some love, maybe we too can be the better for it.

Someone has finally articulated this nagging feeling I've been having for some time. The algorithmic anxiety that comes from living in the teeth of technology. How identity has been replaced by consumerism driven by algorithms that influence the music I listen to, the movies I watch, the vacations I take, and the next must have item I need to buy whether it's Allbirds, a Stanley Mug, or Taylor Swift tickets.

There is a flattening of taste, a statistical averaging of desires that is elevating mid content to stratospheric heights. It's keeping us glued to the apps by staying away from anything that might challenge or confound us. It's dispensing with anything that would require nuanced consideration in favour of the pre-packaged and instantly understood.

We have such a herd mentality. Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd, and so it's not just the consumers but the creators chasing virality that influences and flattens content. Songs are necessarily shorter to monetize within Spotify, movies become focused on meme opportunities over thoughtful writing, everyone is seeking the same shot from the rooftops of Santorini Greece or the shores of the Amafi Coast which drives even more tourism to the same spots. And around the globe, coffeeshops have adopted the same aesthetic of subway tiles, reclaimed wood furniture, rusty plumbing, and hanging lamps with exposed Edison bulbs in a High Brooklyn lumberjack vibe that is instantly recognizable whether you're in Seoul, Copenhagen, or Reykjavik.

Sure this can be a bit of a baggy read at times but it's a necessary reminder to cultivate your own individual taste, to be aware of how the algorithms are subtly influencing what we consume and how, even in the act of consuming it, we are considering how we will present it to others. Of course you are unique, just like everybody else.

I think this is a great overview of how the modern internet works to filter and manage content. If you work in the space and you know how this stuff works, there's nothing groundbreaking.

I enjoyed the tail section about DJs and the last vestiges of human-led curation.

I would have liked to see an exploration of the rise and fall of modern internet human-curated sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit. There are still convergences and flattening of culture as power is concentrated (c.f. u/GallowBoob).

A nice counterpoint might be yCombinator's hackernews which is intentionally slower, manually moderated and strictly enforced community guidelines.

Post-publication of this book, we've also seen a rise in burgeoning, decentralized social networks like Mastodon, Lemmy or similar platforms-as-a-service creating their own niche communities

I was pretty hyped for this book since its release last year and it definitely surpasses my expectations. “Filterworld” goes through the history of algorithms, culture, personal taste and curation, and how algorithms are making culture more boring, less personal, and more nondescriptive. Kyle Chayka does a great job explaining how we've come to this point of the inescapable, inhuman algorithmic impact on culture and how we as users make decisions and interactions with the world through both his own experiences and in historical context. The book's topics, especially when writing about the importance in music and art's curation, discovery, and archival process, I find fascinating and hugely important when it comes to expanding user's minds, diving into context and cultural history, as well as actually finding your own taste from humans rather than the algorithm giving it to you. It's also interesting to read about Chayka's personal takes and experiences as well as his algorithmic cleanse that he did for three months and what came out of it. This book is essential for any reader, aware or not of this cultural flattening. It's an extremely important and vital issue to be aware and worried about, especially how dividing, boring, dangerous, and dull social media has become and is yet another reason why I revoltingly hate and avoid using it at all costs.