Facebook's war on free will

Tagging this as philosophy as well, because there's a sharp critique of how we understand algorithms in here:

By describing the algorithm as the fundamental element of programming, the computer scientists were attaching themselves to a grand history. It was a savvy piece of name-dropping: See, we’re not arriviste, we’re working with abstractions and theories, just like the mathematicians!

There was sleight of hand in this self-portrayal. The algorithm may be the essence of computer science – but it’s not precisely a scientific concept. An algorithm is a system, like plumbing or a military chain of command. It takes knowhow, calculation and creativity to make a system work properly. But some systems, like some armies, are much more reliable than others. A system is a human artefact, not a mathematical truism. The origins of the algorithm are unmistakably human, but human fallibility isn’t a quality that we associate with it. When algorithms reject a loan application or set the price for an airline flight, they seem impersonal and unbending. The algorithm is supposed to be devoid of bias, intuition, emotion or forgiveness.

Algorithms are like math in that they reflect a fundamental concept embedded in the world, but while math (to some degree) is embedded in physics, algorithms draw from human behaviors behavior. Nobody codes in a data-free vaccum, every program has to interact with the real world and is shaped to meet those requirements.

(unless you're using haskell)