It reminded me of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise, in which the college-professor protagonist travels into the countryside with his colleague Murray to see “The Most Photographed Barn in America.” Nothing makes the barn particularly remarkable except its notoriety—a fictional pre-Internet meme. Observing the crowd of photographers around the b

Filterworld and its slick sameness can induce a breathtaking, near-debilitating sense of anxiety. The sameness feels inescapable, alienating even as it is marketed as desirable.

Filterworld is not limited to digital experiences on our screens. It is a pervasive force that shapes the physical world, too. Because algorithmic systems influence the kinds of culture we consume as individuals, molding our personal tastes, they also influence what kinds of places and spaces we gravitate toward.