Algorithm
by Muse

Album: Simulation Theory (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • An algorithm is a step-by-step list of procedures used to solve a problem. This can be done by a human but usually they are written to be run by a computer. The word is derived from the 9th-Century Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, (Latinized Algoritmi). Here, Matt Bellamy sings about his anxieties concerning technology and how algorithms "render us obsolete."

    Burn like a slave
    Churn like a cog
    We are caged in simulations
    Algorithms evolve
    Push us aside and render us obsolete


    Speaking with Forbes, Bellamy said he had in mind how the emergence of artificial intelligence is taking away musicians jobs. He explained that in the 20th century musicians beyond spent a lot of time and effort into learning to play instruments. "Suddenly this century starts, you're going to festivals and there are people turning up with laptops, hitting play and headlining festivals."

    "Someone switching on a laptop," he added is "literally putting about 30 people out of a job in terms of musicians."
  • The song's dystopian music video continues the story from the previously released "Pressure" clip. It retains the services of Brooklyn 99's Terry Crews, who plays a cyber scientist.

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