My Facebook page is typically populated with some of the following subjects:

• Synthesizers
• German news and culture
• Philosophy
• Gilles Deleuze
• Computer graphics
• Electronic music
• Audio engineering
• Photogrammetry matters
• Blender 3D
• Computational design
• Various Artists
• Artificial intelligence
• Generative arts
• Gourmet food sources
• A few museums
• Whitewater adventure travel

And yet the Facebook engine makes suggestions for me such as Todd Rundgren instead of Blixa Bargeld, viral videos instead of music tutorials, worn-out memes trying to target my age group, tributes to old actors from the 80s as though I were into that kind of thing, medications for ailments that don’t affect me (yet), even going so far as to present me with assisted living options. WTF?

I’m not into Star Wars, comic books, fast food restaurant openings, John Lennon’s birthday, retiree activities, or looking in on animals tortured by living in zoos. What is interesting is how Facebook is trying to pigeonhole me into a demographic that some indicators are telling them I should be fitting into.

I also notice that when I’m looking at other people’s posts on my page, the comments in a language other than English are filtered out, and I have to ask to see “All Comments.” What kind of intolerance for things that are different are these Borgs fostering?

It’s obvious there is a peering agreement with Google for what I search for, or maybe it’s just Facebook reading cookies from my computer, but they should be able to see that I don’t just watch Russian crash videos and people doing stupid stuff or search for what ails me. Why don’t they suggest cooking videos from Indonesia, music from Poland, or rafting adventures from South America? Nope, none of that, just the shit that appeals to my lizard brain for quick dopamine release. But that’s NOT what I want, and because of that, I’m in a constant battle to click on the Hide All Recommendations from this content provider as I did with this Pro Football Hall of Fame crap.

Maybe Facebook is an advanced artificial intelligence nostalgia machine looking to abuse my sense of desiring the familiar. I’m 57 and somehow, the algorithm thinks I’d benefit from having a skateboard channel popped into my awareness. Now, either it is calculating through my purchases and previous viewing habits that I’m still into skateboarding, or it’s looking to have me connect with a version of myself from 43 years ago. How do I tell the snippet of code dedicated to John that I abhor nostalgia and that in its attempt to exploit my weakness, it is in fact breeding resentment?