Filterworld

How Algorithms Flattened Culture

By: Kyle Chayka

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Hardcover | 23 January 2024

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From one of the New Yorker's most exciting young writers: a brilliant breakdown of how algorithms have shaped our physical and artistic worlds.

The early promise of a free Internet is long gone. Now, rather than allowing us a meaningful relationship with a range of content of our choosing, algorithms have not only removed genuine choice but de-texturized the world around us: smoothed its edges, planed down friction, and flattened differences. So coffee shops from Brooklyn to Beijing are inflected with a similar, 'Instagrammable' aesthetic. Airbnb rentals are decked out for their swipability factor as much as for their comfort. Spotify builds playlists that echo a category, looping back to music we've already heard before so as not to disrupt the flow. Netflix doesn't just make suggestions based on viewing histories but it actively changes the thumbnails to increase the chances we click on it.

As Filterworld masterfully shows, culture itself has become algorithmic: a set of principles, a data rule, a line of code. And we interact with it in ever more passive ways. The result is not isolated echo chambers or a filter bubbles, but an all-encompassing Filterworld of the title.

Kyle Chayka deliciously deconstructs this Filterworld: it shows us how technology has led us to this place and its effects on society and the individual, as well as how we might be able to remove the filter to gain liberation.

About the Author

Kyle Chayka is a contributing writer for The New Yorker covering technology and culture on the Internet. His work has also appeared in the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, and Harper's, among other publications.

Industry Reviews

"''Necessary reading for anyone who has wondered just how, in expanding our world, the internet has ended up emptying our experience of it. [...] Timely, erudite, important.'' - Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Homeland Elegies

''Kyle Chayka is a vital observer of how digital technology shapes our culture, and Filterworld will change how you think about the internet. In his invigorating new book, Chayka demonstrates how everything from movies to music, design, media, and travel is at the mercy of algorithms.'' - Ben Smith, author of Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral

''Filterworld is a vital interrogation of algorithmic technology and its unrelenting power in shaping both our online and offline experiences. Chayka deftly explains how today's social media ecosystem operates and, more importantly, reveals a way out of the ever-tightening grip of this stifling digital filtration. [...] Filterworld is required reading for anyone who uses the Internet.'' - Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online...

''Filterworld skillfully interrogates how the giant project of measuring humanity using the internet turned into an unfortunate modification of humanity. The story told here is instrumental to your own, even if you do not realize it.'' - Jaron Lanier, author of Dawn of the New Everything and ""The Father of Virtual Reality"""

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