Writing Comprehension Test
for 11th Form Students
Is Google Autocomplete Evil?
“Women shouldn’t have rights.” “Women shouldn’t vote.”
“Women shouldn’t work.” How prevalent are these beliefs? According to a resent
United Nations campaign, such sexism is dispiritingly common, and it is why
they published these sentiments on a series of posters. The source? These
statements were the top suggestions offered by Google’s “instant search tool
when words “women should not…” were typed into its search box. Google Instant
is an “autocomplete” service – which, as the name suggests, automatically
suggests letters and words to complete a query, based on the company’s
knowledge of the billions of searchers performed across the world each day.
The argument behind the UN campaign is that this
algorithm offers a glimpse into our collective psyche – and a disturbing one at
that. Is this really true? Not in the sense that the campaign implies.
Autocomplete is biased and deficient in many ways, and there are dangers ahead
if we forget that. In fact, there is a good case that you should switch it off
entirely.
The greatest danger is the degree to
which an instantaneous answer – generator has the power not only to reflect but
also to remould what the world believes - and
to do so beneath the level of conscious debate. Autocomplete is coming
to be seen as a form of prophecy, complete with a self-fulfilling invitation to
click and agree. Yet by letting an algorithm finishing our thoughts we
contribute to a feedback loop that portentously reinforces untruths and
misconceptions for future searchers.
Consider the case of a Japanese man
who earlier this year, typed his name into Google and discovered autocomplete
associating him with criminal acts. He won a court case compelling the company
to modify the results. The Japanese case echoed a previous instance in Australia
where, effectively, the autocomplete algorithm was judged to be guilty of libel
after it suggested the word “bankrupt” be appended to a doctor’s name. And
there are plenty of other examples to pick from.
Do you know you can turn
autocomplete off just by changing one setting? I’d recommend you give it a try, if only to
perform a simple test: does having a computer whispering in your ear change the
way you think about the world? Or, of course, you can ask Google itself. For
me, typing “is Google autocomplete… “
offered the completed phrase “is Google autocomplete a joke?”
Unfortunately, the answer is anything but.
Google
autocomplete system can subconsciously impact our thought patterns. And so
could the mass media. You are to write an essay of that mass media effect on
people. The following questions can help guide your thought.
Mass Media
consists of radio, television, newspapers, magazines, movies, books and
internet.
-
Is
there any information that you have seen in the last year that you think should
not be in the mass media?
-
What
do you think should be done about this and why?
-
Should
there be laws against certain types of information being spread? If so, which
types? If not, why?
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