The algorithm knows you better than you know yourself. And it uses that knowledge for one singular, driving purpose: to sell you more, more, more. Until a rogue programmer rewrites the algorithm to show you not what you're most likely to buy, but what will make you happiest.
All over the world, people are smiling on the street. Quitting their jobs. Finding love. The world is a happier place now, and what could be wrong with that?
But some people's desires are darker than others…
This short story is 7200 words long. It is also available in Digital Soul, a science fiction short story collection.
Other books by Zoe Cannon
Zoe Cannon writes about the things that fascinate her: outsiders, societies no sane person would want to live in, questions with no easy answers, and the inner workings of the mind. If she couldn't be a writer, she would probably be a psychologist, a penniless philosopher, or a hermit in a cave somewhere. While she'll read anything that isn't nailed down, she considers herself a YA reader and writer at heart. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and a giant teddy bear of a dog, and spends entirely too much time on the internet.
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