TikTok Algorithm

 Modern machine learning is a process which everyone should understand and be fascinated by. It is essentially darwinism applied to computers. CGP Grey has a great video I recommend watching here on the topic. The same process described on the YouTube algorithm applies to TikTok, but this one has a much different job. Instead of having to decide what options to show a user to click, the algorithm has full control over what content is shown to the user. So it has to be good at it's job. I learned through the EOTO presentation about how the TikTok algorithm knows a lot more about the individual than what you may think. Your attention span, political beliefs, usage patterns, and a multitude of other factors are tracked through your usage.

This is worrisome, because if the algorithm knows all these things, then the people who own the algorithm, the Chinese government, also know all these things. As I write this in my dorm room, I can hear 2 of my roommates scrolling through their TikTok feeds in their rooms. TikTok is pervasive in the modern American teen's media diet. This means the algorithm is collecting and storing data on millions of Americans. If the Chinese government is smart enough and forward-looking enough, which based on the history of the Chinese, I believe they are, then they are likely working on ways to use this wealth of information at their disposal to their advantage. For now, their interests align with ours and it isn't a clear, present issue, but the implications are worrisome. 

Diffusion of Innovations

 The Diffusion of Innovations describes the process of adoption of a new technology, showing it to follow a bell curve. One such technology that followed the theory is the smartphone. The smartphone had multiple iterations, but we can see the clear beginning stages of the early adopters from as early as 1994  with the "Simon Personal Communicator" by IBM. (pictured below)

Early adopters started slowly, building momentum until around some point around 2008, where they became the early majority, with smartphones building in adoption rates continuously until smartphone adoption rates hit 50% in 2012. Most of the western world now owns a smartphone, and we are now in the process of leaving the late majority to the "Laagards", i.e. only the Amish and people very averse to them are left. So companies seek other markets in lesser developed countries, and push heavily for adoption in those regions to drive sales. I see no real downside to every human on the planet owning a device which connects them to a global communication network, allowing free discussion to the masses. Besides when those communication platforms are manipulated for profit or other motive, smartphones allow a window into the global consciousness.