Think ham sandwich, see ham sandwich, blame the algorithms

Ever think about an avocado, Geo rgeForeman Grill or jump rope and then magically see an ad for an avocado, Geo rgeFor eman Grill or jump rope?

Me tooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Some people call such an occurance coincidence or déjà vu.

Icallitthe“peop le” whoc o ntrolyourc omputer, climb in your brain and tell your secrets to The Google, The Facebook or The Twitter.

My explanation for this phenomenon is not a popular one, but it is as feasible as anything else.

My belief system also explains why it is you can think “I need new shoes”andt hen see an ad for a shoe sale in the paper.

Think about it. Really,

really think about it. It must be unseen, allknowing algorithms at play here, right?

Surely yo uknowab out the algorithms.

They a real l the rage and cause all the rage.

I will put it in layperson speak: microscopic people called algorithms live in computers and decide what you will see, wh ere and when.

Theyarenot a new breed.

These ancient and long-lived people predate grilled cheese and Gutenberg ’sp ress by eons.

Evidence of their existence ca nbefound within the cave art at Leang Lompoa in Maros, Indonesia.

Scholars with strong magnifying glasses and steady hands have spotted traces of algorithm culture on the handwritten news sheets passed around Venice in the 1560s.

Their presence on the WorldWide Web should be no surprise.

It is quite widely sus- pected that Algorithms helped Al Gore invent the Internet m ore than 300 years ago.

The ywork pretty closely with The Alexa from Amazon, and are in with The Google, The Facebook and The Twitter.

As far as I can tell, a seasoned team of algorithms climb i ntoyour bra in—r e member,Is aid they are real tiny — tap int oyour network, and then conve y information about your spending behaviors to the algorithms living in the Infor- mation Superhighway.

They pass it on to The Google, The Facebook, The Twitter and the rest of the Thes.

Alittle bit of buzzing and a bleep later and you see an ad for an electric saw in your Facebook feed.

Geez-o-p eteisright. I hope I didn’ tbl ow your mind too much.

That job is typically reserved for our algorithm “friends.”