Economics
Demand Media's Planet of the Algorithms
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"We are thinking through the implications of, 'How do you editorially program the planet?' " says Byron Reese.
It's March 2010, and Reese, the chief innovation officer of Demand Media (DMD), is accepting a "game changer" award for innovation at the We Media conference in Miami. Several dozen people listen as he invokes Demand's plan for cranking out Web pages and videos to quench every last bit of human curiosity wherever it springs up. The plan's code name: Little Brother, a nod to George Orwell.