Not only was I facing heavy course loads and strict grade rankings, but few teachers in that school saw my potential: most of them just teased me in public about how abnormal I was. When I served as the design representative, many students annotated “tinpot” on a public board drawing I was creating since I developed my own style that went against their “standard.” Many “real friends” ditched me when they think I was “hopeless” as I constantly failed to make a comeback in grades during the final year. Looking retrospectively, I am incredibly proud that under the influence of so many things, I was still able to keep looking for my own path in my way and under my values. I chose to leave that system by concentrating all my effort on getting myself into an International Baccalaureate high school in another city. The moment I got in, I knew I could embrace sunshine again.
I realize the unintentional confirmation bias may have made my middle school experience darker than it was. As neuropsychiatrist Dilip V. Jeste points out in the excerpt of Wiser, we have the “tendency to search for and favor information that confirms what we already believe” (148). The subjective belief that these are my worse years in school pushes me to search for the related memories and photo evidence that only renders it worse. Another cognitive bias I possess is "focusing on winners” but not realizing their stories may just be their PR image. For example, leaders like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs do think very differently. However, focusing solely on this aspect means I may ignore their ability to clearly see the current reality and adapt or move on.
FULL DRAFT
Two Diverged Roads in the Wood
Sep 22, 2022. By Sierra Zhang.
INTRODUCTION
I believe that the differences in our DNAs make us unique — I’m not talking about genetics and chromosomes, but what I call “humanity DNA.” If I introduce myself in one sentence, I would go with “I’m Sierra, someone who is passionate about emerging tech, awesome ideas, daydreams, talking, and witty stuff. I am happy when talking or doing things I care about and feeling the meaning of doing them.” This one sentence includes information-rich: my preferred name, passion as one of my core values, and how I want others to see me. It is our passions, core values, personal experiences, even cognitive biases that formulate the DNA “double helix. We are guided to walk our own roads by our DNAs, while algorithms are increasingly trying to understand us by formulating their own road.
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED BY
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
(Frost, Mountain Interval, 9)
I am lucky. Unlike many other Chinese parents who value strict rules, detailed orders, and passed-on hobbies, my parents are ambitious about family education based on trust, goodwill, and inspiration. They encouraged me to see the bright side of the Internet and games, something other parents treat as toxic, and use it to explore. I discovered many refreshing ideas I would later become obsessed with on the web...
[Fig. 1] Asian parents stereotype meme which is real in many cases (Chinoy TV).
... I still remember how my elementary school drawing class teacher did not understand at all why I constantly handed in drawings of digital devices and imaginary cities while other students were obsessed with green trees and blue skies. I was not aware by then, but the early inspiration my parents gave me will later serve as the basis for the most important choice of my life.
[Fig. 2] Old drawings of the author.
Growing older and becoming more emotionally aware, I noticed how I was different in many ways. I start to lose confidence when others call me a “wired kid.” Things changed when I came across Apple’s 1997 advertisement “Think Different” (TBWA\Chiat\Day. this is the closest version I could find. The original version was taken down due to copyright issues). It changed my life path. The words of the award-winning director Lee Clow echoed in my mind, “people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do” (TBWA\Chiat\Day). I started to develop the mindset that all the “crazy ideas” I process are nothing to be ashamed of but what makes me stand out. I began to embrace them and challenge myself to think before doing anything “is there a different but better way?” Gradually, I developed my strong core values of independent thinking, creativity, status-quo-breaking, passion, determination, and a certain level of rebelliousness.
[Fig. 3] Think Different posters (Siltanen)
THE ROUGH AND BUMPY ROAD
However, thinking “different” on my own path meant I did not enjoy the “delights" of the standard paths. Like how poet Robert Frost hinted in his poem “The Road Not Taken,” If you choose one path, you may adversely lose everything positive on the other one (Miles). The standard education system in most Chinese schools value heavily standardized approaches, order, textbook, and score ranking. This, in return, creates hyper-competitiveness and everyday antagonism: people learn things ahead only to be the undefeatable straight-A student who receives the most attention. “Unfortunately,” I have always been an “outlier” in that system. I still remember how I had to lose part of “myself” to pass the exam to get into the best middle school in my city. And even when I eventually did, that “glory” did not age well - what lay ahead was the darkest three years in my life.
[Fig. 4] The grades ranking sheets were heavily annotated by teachers to indicate who has worse performance. Retrieved from the author’s photo archive (Zhang).
[Fig. 5] The homework practice exams for one weekend was thicker than an iPad. Retrieved from the author’s photo archive (Zhang).
THE OTHER ROAD
No matter which “road” I choose and how bumpy it is, advertisers tend to walk their own path. To fully exploit the power of e-commerce, marketers create or use algorithms to create generic “roads” and try to fit people with similar characteristics in. As Open Technology Institute policy analyst Spandana Singh listed in her report “Special Delivery,” an ad service provider may simplify users into data points and focus on their demographics, behaviors, and interests to split them into different targeted segments (Singh). For example, on Google’s ad personalizations page, I am a single, full-time college student, “18-24" years old, male, and do speak English. They think I am interested in technology, education, outdoors, AI, animals, automobiles, fashion, and so on, I will pursue computer and electronics as my future career (Google). On the other hand, algorithms at Facebook bet that I am more interested in finding a business-related job (Meta).
Marketers are happy to utilize this information and let their advertisements find me. Keith Kirkpatrick, the principal of 4K Research & Consulting, explains in the article “Advertising via Algorithm,” marketers can use “real-time bidding” and “programmatic advertising” techniques to push ads I may want at the moment I may want them (Kirkpatrick). For instance, since algorithms believe that I am interested in traveling and a green lifestyle, ads about traveling apps and solar panels are everywhere on my YouTube and Instagram homepages.
ROADS THAT DOES NOT CONVERGE
The “road” marketers create using algorithms looks clever and efficient. As Pew Research Center director of research Lee Rainie and others highlighted in the report “Facebook Algorithms and Personal Data,” over half of the surveyed Facebook users think algorithms determine their interests fairly accurately, compared to less than a third the report the complaints about inaccuracy (Rainie et al.). Even I have to admit that the predicted interests on both Google and Facebook sites more or less represent some of my preferences.
[Fig. 6] Survey results of Facebook users from Pew Research Center (Rainie et al.). Reproduced by the author.
To this extend, algorithms sounds like geniuses in human psychology. On the contrary, I am shocked by the huge tension between my self perception and programmatic results. That is, how superficial the algorithms are. I believe our “humanity DNA” defines us. Just like how universal behaviors in different corporations may be attributed to different values and visions, our hobbies, lifestyles, or even political leanings can be due to different “DNAs.” For example, both being Tesla fans, I value the technological development Teslas stand for while my friend value more the beautiful designs...
[Fig. 7] Blind people "seeing" the elephant (Himmelfarb et al.).
... Observing our characteristics on a phenotypical level just as the algorithms is like blind people “seeing” the elephant and describing what it is — they get it partially correct, but fundamentally wrong. For the highly subjective part of myself, the advertisers have yet found a way to characterize them. They successfully put me in one spot on their generic “road,” but that road will never be the same with the road I constructed in my mind.
FINAL THOUGHT: SCENERY ON THE ROAD
Algorithms aside, I wish to research how sensations like the Think Different ad campaign got popular, especially under today’s background. As I wish to build a company that brings people delightful products just like how Think Different influenced me, this research will significantly help me to reach to wider audiences, especially when the business is ramping up, and popularity (in a good way) is needed.
WORKS CITED
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Frost, Robert. Mountain Interval. New York: Henry Holt And Company, 1931.
Himmelfarb et al. “Perspectives in renal medicine: the elephant in uremia: oxidant stress as a unifying concept of cardiovascular disease in uremia.” Kidney Int. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-1755.2002.00600.x
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Singh, Spandana. “Special Delivery: How Internet Platforms Use Artificial Intelligence to Target and Deliver Ads.” New America, 18 Feb. 2020, https://www.newamerica.org/oti/reports/special-delivery/.
TBWA\Chiat\Day and Steve Jobs. Think Different. TBWA\Chiat\Day, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBJAvi3A0H8. Accessed 20 Sep. 2022.
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Zhang, Sierra. Personal Photos.