The age of gunpowder and the age of oil both transformed geopolitics; the age of algorithms is doing the same. Today, wars are no longer fought merely for territory or resources. They are waged silently, invisibly, across glowing rectangles that fit into the palm of our hands. What we scroll, what we watch, even what we think we desire—these are shaped less by choice than by mathematical codes optimised for attention. It is a war on screens, and its prize is not land but the human mind.

No algorithm is innocent. Built ostensibly to enhance user experience, its true function is to maximise engagement. Engagement means time spent; time translates into advertising revenue; revenue into power. In this calculus, neutrality evaporates. The content that algorithms amplify is seldom calm or balanced. Instead, it privileges the shrill over the measured, the provocative over the reasoned. The result is a digital theatre in which our emotions—anger, fear, envy, delight—are constantly rehearsed, seldom resolved.

Double strike by Noman Ali puts Pakistan on top in Lahore Test

Evidence is plentiful. A study conducted on more than 4,500 undecided voters in the United States and India showed that manipulated search rankings could shift voter preferences by more than 20 per cent, often without participants realising it. During the 2016 U.S. election, armies of automated accounts propelled falsehoods at lightning speed, shaping perceptions before facts could catch up. What was once the work of propagandists has now been outsourced to self-learning........

© The Nation