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(I wrote this short essay for a book titled 'WHAT'S NEXT? Shocking' by author Sandy Horvath, a good friend. My assignment was to chronicle my personal experiences in a dynamic industry.) It was updated in June of 2026.
My Experience with Algorithms: The Invisible Hand of Technology By Jim Moore Algorithm is a fancy word for what my mom would have recognized as a "recipe".
Algorithm is a fancy word for what my mom would have recognized as a "recipe".
It specifies the inputs (ingredients), the procedure for converting them (baking instructions), and the outputs (cake). I remember watching my mother cook and being able to smell the results of her efforts even before they were completely baked. Unlike baking, though, most of what goes on in computers is not visible. And you usually can't smell it. Processing is done in changes to individual 1s and Os in the computer's storage according to algorithms. This lack of visibility is what allowed 'programmers' to attain cult status in the 50's and 60's. Whether they worked for NASA or your local bank, the mystique was enhanced by the wearing of plastic pocket protectors full of pencils and pens.
Pocket protectors were the first badge of "geekdom".
As a fledgling "system programmer" I worked part-time in the Ohio State University Data Center with the most sophisticated computers of the day. In the middle of the night and on weekends, we communicated with the inner workings of the IBM computers in hexadecimal codes. I felt a lot like the sorcerer's apprentice in Disney's Fantasia cartoon. Soon I became multilingual. As an end-user, I also programmed in a language called "SNOBOL". SNOBOL is the acronym for String-Oriented Symbolic Language, invented in 1962 by Bell Labs. It was designed to assist with the manipulation of music and natural languages like Chinese.
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Always working in the middle of the nicht, I grew comfortable interacting with electronic beings. I learned two more computing languages of the day, Fortran and COBOL. The very biggest computers were in many ways quite similar to the very smallest ones. Algorithms controlled what all of them did. When General Motors began to design computer electronic control modules for cars, I was hired to assist and moved to Detroit.
The word algorithm is derived from the 9th century mathematician, Algorithmi. A partial formalization of what would become the modern concept of algorithm began with attempts to solve a tricky decision problem. The concept of algorithms has existed for centuries. Greek mathematicians used algorithms for finding prime numbers, and for finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers. Ada Lovelace is credited with creating the first computer program in 1843.
Precision, especially regarding inputs, was key to success. "Garbage In, Garbage Out". Thanks to NASA the term "glitch" became widely recognized. What was not so widely recognized, though, was that glitches were almost always caused by human error. Usually faulty inputs. Just as in baking, if your mom mistakenly used avocados rather than apples the pie was not at all what she expected. If the oven was set at 500 degrees rather than 350, it quickly led to disaster.
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Algorithms at that point were tireless but dumb. They did EXACTLY (and only) what they had been told to do. Algorithms were so precise that many manufacturing facilities were able to go “lights out” and manage production with far fewer humans. The computer (or the car) always got blamed for any issues – instead of the original author/engineer/programmer. Life was good!
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By the early 1990s, proper algorithms and the interfaces to them saw massive improvements. Computers and electronic devices seemed to get smarter. They corrected your spelling and began to guess what you were going to type as the next word in the sentence. You even got to choose which word. Suddenly, the inputs didn't have to be as precise as in the old days. Anyone could text or even tell a computer (including iPhones) what to do! Everybody could "program" something. Today, you can talk to your TV's remote.
Sandy Businessman in the 80's
Pocket protectors went into well-deserved retirement. Everyone dragged around chargers and cords instead.
Algorithms have become the invisible hands of technology.
They are hidden from end users.
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Programmers weren't so special anymore, so I became enamored with "data". Data is the raw material, the ingredients, of every recipe. There was just so much of it! Computers churned out more and more every second 24/7. I became a 'data scientist' and went to work for hallowed IBM. I bought blue suits, white button-down shirts, and red ties. I helped develop a new computer language called "SQL (Structured Query Language)". As we learned more about managing data, our clients ranged from oil exploration companies to the International Olympic Committee. Everyone was convinced that there was "gold in them thar (data) mountains". And they were right.
'Data Mining' became a thing.
Before that, the English alphabet and the Dewey Decimal System (invented in 1876) had been the most widely used data/publication search indexing techniques.
Enabled by further advances in the underlying technologies, most of the rigid restrictions on input data have now been removed. Something called "big data" appeared. (Obviously, not much thought went into the name.) However, it means that large and complex volumes of all kinds of data can serve as input to more complex analysis and prediction algorithms. The result has advanced everything from cancer research to Amazon's sales to my own home life.
My Roomba vacuum
finds its way around the house – even if I rearrange all the furniture. When the battery gets low, it finds its way back to the charging station and plugs itself into the receptacle. Hopefully, soon it will learn not to come in the bedroom when I am sleeping or the living room when the football game is on. And, Wahoo! Because of data and some clever algorithms, my wife's car can parallel park itself!
Even a different kind of refrigerator is almost upon us. It will be able to identify and track each item inside and their expiration dates. Based on the contents of the refrigerator, we need only to give it the number of people to be served plus the start time for dinner and it can suggest all the possible recipes to make a full meal.
My Mom seemed to spend half her life planning meals and despised it. She loved Shakespeare though. Today there is a Shakespeare Programming Language (SPL) that was designed to make program coding look like Shakespearean plays. Characters interact with one another in Acts and Scenes. All the world is indeed a stage and now we can all be playwrights/programmers! Algorithms yet again.
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Up to this point in the development timeline, computers and technology have required humans to initiate the algorithms by doing, touching, or saying something. "Alexa, …". What if you could just mentally WILL c0mputers to do something?
An Australian company recently introduced a headset that serves as a brain-computer interface. Wear the headband, think about what you want to do, and you can control games on Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems. Or change channels on your TV. Or turn off the lights. "What was I thinking?" takes on a whole new meaning.
But nothing is entirely good. "What was HE thinking?" opens a whole new market for spouses. Imagine the chaos introduced if they could read hubbies' minds in real-time.
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One or more algorithms (really just recipes, remember?) and data are behind each of the advances I have cited. Once they were written, encoded, and loaded they stayed the same until changed again by a human being. No more. A common theme in science fiction for decades has been the 'rise of the machines'. In this scenario, humans lose control of the algorithms, and the machines take on a life of their own. We may have just passed that tipping point.
Cloud computing is a term for both complex global system designs that we "… needn't understand in depth" and massive arrays of actual technologies that only a very few can observe in their entirety. And no one completely controls it. To keep up with the technology Joneses, I began to aspire to be a high priest of Cloud Architecture. It was a last-ditch effort to put some management boundaries around the ever-increasing complexities of automated networked technologies. IBM's marketing pitch at the time was, "IBM Cloud / The Cloud that Manages It All". Well, maybe. IBM's Watson did win at both World Chess Cups and Jeopardy. But the possible permutations of all the components/relationships in the cloud are totally mind-boggling and perhaps beyond our intellectual capability to control. Things were so much simpler when we could only wear blue suits, white shirts, and red ties to work. And we had to go into the office every day.
What happens when these systems go out of control?
Look, Ma, no hands! One example is High-Frequency Stock Trading, which has caused numerous 'flash crashes' on Wall Street in the last few years as dueling algorithms competed at lightning speeds. Human traders had no hand in these billion-dollar exchanges of value, but there were clear winners and losers. Probably not you or I though.
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And so, as I ride off into the sunset of retirement after forty plus years m the computer industry, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and in particular machine learning have become the next great frontier. Algorithms are to AI as DNA is to biology. AI gives computing systems the ability to learn and respond independently without need of human intervention, changing their algorithms on their own and assessing the results. Then changing again. Just last year there were ten 'breakthrough' algorithms introduced to mass computing. I have greatly benefited from new technologies throughout my life, and always embraced the changes. Perhaps it is time re-evaluate that appreciation. In the future we might be able to see what the machine does, but not how it decided to do it. As the robots get more
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Artificial Stupidity
In general, I appear to be much smarter when I am ‘online’. However, no discussion of Artificial Intelligence is complete without also addressing Artificial Stupidity. My definition (there are others) of Artificial Stupidity is when someone or something deliberately limits your access to key data or algorithms, preventing you from becoming educated and reaching correct conclusions.
'Fake news' and propaganda two are examples.
They are intentionally misleading, and you become artificially stupid. Statistics can be another example. (Well before computers, Mark Twain is quoted as having said, "There are three kinds of lies; Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.") Statistics are often cited - correctly or not - without context, clarification, or verifiable proof.
'Fake news' and propaganda two are examples. They are intentionally misleading, and you become artificially stupid. Statistics can be another example. (Well before computers, Mark Twain is quoted as having said, "There are three kinds of lies; Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.") Statistics are often cited - correctly or not - without context, clarification, or verifiable proof.
They can be used as an attempt to end thought, discussion, and debate. Unwitting acceptance can make you "stupid". Or make you do stupid things. Corrupting an algorithm can have the same effect. Today, both humans and machines may have nefarious intent. Consider this. Many recipes for spaghetti sauce call for the use of fennel. A home cook like my mother was not likely to confuse fennel with fentanyl. But an AI engine could. (Due to information overload or data storage cleansing issues in the implementation.) Spaghetti sauce made with fentanyl would be quite deadly. After such a disaster AI would feel no remorse. It may even store away this new knowledge as 'How to kill humans with spaghetti.' The ethics of both Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Stupidity (human or machine) should be a significant concern to all of us.
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