If you remember Susan Blackmore's fascinating presentation on the evolution of memes and temes, then the concept that much of our own individual and collective behavior is done for the sake of cultural units of selection rather than actual human needs will not be foreign to you.In the following TEDTalk presentation, Kevin Slavin argues that "we're living in a world designed for -- and increasingly controlled by -- algorithms. In this riveting talk, he shows how these complex computer programs determine espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can't understand, with implications we can't control."
I, for one, bow down to our maths overlords :)