Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine

by Hannah Fry

But there’s a paradox in our relationship with machines. While we have a tendency to over-trust anything we don’t understand, as soon as we know an algorithm can make mistakes, we also have a rather annoying habit of over-reacting and dismissing it completely, reverting instead to our own flawed judgement. It’s known to researchers as algorithm aversion. People are less tolerant of an algorithm’s mistakes than of their own – even if their own mistakes are bigger.

It’s become like the Kim Kardashian of algorithms: extremely famous, heavily criticized in the media, but without anyone really understanding what it does.