“YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE”
”Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears
will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’ »
(Isaiah 30:21, NIV).
PEOPLE in the twenty-first century boast of being self-sufficient, of having the ability to make their own decisions without anyone setting guidelines for them, least of all God. Surprisingly, the same group that—dragged by the currents of post-modernism—believes itself to be independent, makes most of its decisions under the influence and direction of an algorithm, an electronic master that has subtly taken control of what we do.
According to an article published in New Scientist magazine, it’s impossible for most of us to spend a day of our lives without interacting with an algorithm.” For example, let’s say I go into a bookstore in search of a book. While I’m there, I check my social media accounts, and I am met with several ads promoting the very books through which I just browsed. That’s because Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon—all use algorithms that focus on finding out every detail of our lives and then using that information to induce us to make all sorts of decisions. The sum total of the information provided by algorithms reveals patterns of our lives related to what we believe, what we like, and what our interests are.
Sometimes algorithms guide us to make the right decision and other times they lead us to get into debt or buy something we don’t need. A few years ago, the algorithm Amazon used to calculate the price of its books determined that the book The Making of a Fly was worth slightly more than twenty-three million dollars. They certainly would not have sold a single copy of the book if they had solely relied on their algorithm.
The truth is that, although we cannot see algorithms with our own eyes, they’re still there, influencing our daily lives. If an algorithm can influence what we do, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for us to allow our Creator to play the leading role when we have to make decisions?
If we allow God to be the main driving force of our lives, even though we cannot see Him, He will be with us. He promises that at our crossroads, when we need Him most, we will hear His voice telling us, «This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21, NIV). Are we heeding that voice?
* Leah Crane, Clare Wilson, Chelsea Whyte, et al., “The Essential Guide to the Algorithms that Run Your Life,” New Scientist (June 19, 2021), pp. 34-27.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Avineyda Hernandez