In an age in which the algorithm constantly guides us towards things we already like, I tried to stop being a control freak, imprisoned by my preferences. It wasn’t easyHow predictable is your life? I drink my coffee from the same Moomin mug every morning and run a tight roster of weekly meals. My Ocado order never varies. On weekends, we buy the same seeded sourdough loaf; do the same chores; see the same friends. That might sound stultifying, but it comforts me in a chaotic world.Is it a coping mechanism, an expression of my control-freak tendencies? Probably, which is why I was gripped and horrified in equal measure by an extract from How Not to Know by Simone Stoltzoff in the Atlantic about Max Hawkins, a software engineer who, feeling “trapped by his optimised life”, decided to randomise radically. Hawkins built an algorithm for a “random ride generator” that took him to surprise locations: a hospital, a leather bar, a bowling alley. Then, enthused by those early experiences, he went further and let chance decide where he lived, what he wore and even his tattoos. “In choosing randomly,” he said, “I found freedom.” Continue reading…