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Available for over a year
I sometimes wonder if this really is the end of the world, or if it just my algorithm making it seem that way. At a personal level, those clever little lines of code seem to be getting better at telling me – and then selling me – what I need. My algorithm knows I have a bad knee and not enough shelf space to store my books; and it feeds me ads for patella straps and revolving bookcases. More seriously, my news feed tells me I should be stockpiling tins of beans and that Bill Gates says unchecked AI could cause up to a billion deaths. Could it be that our algorithms are going to bring about the end of the world by inducing so much fear we destroy ourselves? A friend in Australia recently asked if everything was okay in the UK, as their news feed was filled with images of boats and balaclavas and riots. The riots they referred to followed the 2024 Southport murders, when false claims circulating online led to some asylum seekers and Muslim communities being blamed and targeted. Ofcom found that these riots demonstrated the role algorithmic recommendations can play in ‘driving divisive narratives in a crisis period’. There is nothing new under the sun – or in The Sun, The Sydney Morning Herald or on X. Fear sells. Bad news pays dividends. Or, as journalist Eric Pooley said, ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. Apocalyptic thinking can be valuable for organisations that profit from grabbing our attention. What is different is how our grip in what is really going on in the world has become so slippery. The amplification of bad news keeps us preoccupied, makes us feel that we can’t do anything to make things better. We once had a fridge magnet that said ‘Jesus is coming, look busy. It was a joke with a bit of serious theology buried inside. Orthodox Christian teaching speaks of living between times, between two ‘advents’ – the birth of and return of Christ. We live in a crisis period, but the direction - or telos - of this story is not apocalyptic obliteration, but earthly restoration. What is more, we’re not spectators, but participants in the restoration of all things – which I assume includes the bad things. This weekend my friend Amy was ordained. Her first service fell on the feast day of St Michael and all Angels. It focused on celebrating the bringing of the news of the birth of Christ. It rings true and seems apt that the angel Gabriel’s words, ‘I bring you news of great joy,’ were prefaced with the words ‘Fear not.’ This morning my feed is filled with joyful photos from that day, of people full of hope, quietly getting on with the business of restoration. A reminder that there is other news worth hearing in this world and other algorithms at work.
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