The Algorithm as a Slot Machine

Eric reminds us that there are no gods, aside from those we’ve built ourselves:

You and your friend do your best to make sure that your letters to each other are phrased in such a way that the slot machine picks it first. You shape your sentences, avoid specific words and topics, because you desperately don’t want to lose that connection you’ve built. Over time, this too will erode your connection, because you end up not talking to each other, but to the slot machine instead, who serves as some kind of unreliable in-between.