We’re about to glimpse life on the other side of algorithms

I study my TikTok account like a leech behind glass. I can see it reaching from behind the screen to hook me—videos of big drippy burgers, flawless skincare routines, unending celebrities on jumbotrons, cleavage. I’ve liked and shared posts about calligraphy, art, and plant-based cooking; I’ve tried to teach the algorithm my tastes, but that’s never appeased the leech. So now I flick past its suggestions as quickly as possible—part in academic curiosity, and part in stubborn protest...