This concept comes to me in random downloads, so apologies if it doesn’t feel well thought out, but between this post and future posts, I will get to the point…
Having worked in tech for a while, I have a pretty decent understanding of how technology and algorithms work. Someone once asked on social media “why do tech people tend to dive into spirituality?” And my response was “because when the algorithms start working better than you know they can, you realize there’s more to life than meets the eye.”
There’s the oft quoted example where Target knew a woman was pregnant before she was, and this was years before social media was a thing. The algorithms relied solely on patterns from other pregnant women’s buying behaviors and accurately pinpointed this/these particular not yet registered pregnancies. This isn’t magic, this is math.
And, in our social media world, we’re able to make assumptions about what you will buy based on a similar concept. Now, companies have so many more data points on you than a single string of purchases from Target. Facebook knows what ads you’re interested in, which posts you comment on, which ones you’ve purchased from, and offers those as a bundle to companies who wish to sell similar products to you. The technical term is “lookalike audiences” and it’s the reason you bought that charcuterie board last summer, my friend (or was that just me?). But this isn’t magic either, it’s math.
But here’s where it gets interesting: sometimes life seems to echo your thoughts. Ever notice that when you start thinking about buying a black car or craving ice cream, those things seem to pop up everywhere? Online, we can trace this back to algorithms. Offline, however, it feels like your thoughts might be influencing the world around you. And that raises a fascinating question: is there something more at play beyond just data and code?
The beauty of our modern world is exactly at this intersection. Algorithms show us that many of our experiences are just predictable patterns based on numbers. Yet, when these patterns spill over into coincidences or unexpected moments, it hints at something elusive—something we can’t fully measure with math.
Maybe the allure of spirituality in a data-driven world isn’t about rejecting technology at all. It might be about recognizing that while algorithms bring clarity and predictability, they also remind us of the vast, uncharted areas of our existence. Data is great, but our lives are also rich with mystery that we’ve been put here to uncover. To me, that brings a sense of wonder to our everyday lives….let’s go play!
Stay tuned, as we have much more to explore with this topic.
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