Week 13 Reflection -- No Neutrality Within Computer Programing

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Within this week’s assigned lecture “Big Tech is Watching You!” many topics and issues were discussed regarding big tech companies, their current and growing technologies, and how we as users are affected by the methods they use to provide their services and potentially collect vast amounts of data and other information on each and every user that decides to use their products. One of the quotes from the presentation that very greatly stuck out to me as something I had never considered before and has a truly powerful impact on how I now view the internet and that which is on it is “Computer code and digital technology and ideas about artificial intelligence are not neutral.” He states that every single line of code used in web applications, computer programs, or any range of algorithms used by users was written by some human for some task. This task, if it be intentional or otherwise, has a goal that could very well be something that is not at all unbiased or uninfluenced by outside forces. Also stated is that these versions of code “is not a neutral thing coming out” and that “their vision of the world makes its way into the code and that code shapes us.” This is something that I myself had never considered and I highly doubt that the vast majority of people like me had considered it either. Often, when browsing the internet or using some other software-based program, I do not stop to think about what might be forced upon me by the creators of the program. Most of the time, I just ignore that thought and think of it as something similar to a dictionary or other form of instructional material that we can, for the most part, just simply blindly trust to be created entirely for our own good. Very rarely do we stop to think about the many different ideals or thought processes that could be actively pressed upon us without our realizing it. He states “all code is biased,” a very true blanket statement about the workings of the internet. As he also states, nearly every single person has an agenda that they, subconsciously or consciously, push outwards through their speech, actions, and creations such as the computer codes. This is why I now view each website or program I use through a new lens of analysis as I try my hardest to avoid this form of mental programming being forced upon me.