For most people, the Brexit vote was the moment they realised the funhouse mirror was real. The moment they saw how algorithms could warp reality, turning neighbour against neighbour. For me, that moment came years earlier, in the world of online gambling.
In my novel, *Obsidian: Engine of Influence*, a piece of technology designed to help people becomes a tool for mass manipulation. That's not just a story; it's a confession. I saw the mechanics of it firsthand when I was helping to bring in the rise of Facebook "soft games"—the ones that were like gambling, but not *legally* gambling.
The Legal Gamble
We created campaigns that targeted new demographics, people who would never set foot in a casino. We weren't just selling a game; we were selling a monetisation route disguised as entertainment. We were taking a "legal gamble" with the very definition of the word.
We learned how to identify and target people based on their psychological profiles. We knew who was susceptible to social proof, who was driven by a fear of missing out, and who just needed a dopamine hit to get through a boring afternoon. We built systems that learned, adapted, and optimised for one thing: keeping people clicking.
From Poker Chips to Ballot Slips
When the Brexit campaigns kicked into high gear, I saw the exact same patterns. The same psychological targeting, the same emotional manipulation, the same funhouse mirror. The only difference was the currency. Instead of poker chips, they were playing with votes.
The echo chambers didn't happen by accident. They were designed. If you were leaning Leave, the algorithms didn't just show you pro-Leave content. They showed you the most extreme, most infuriating Remain content to solidify your position. They didn't want you to be informed; they wanted you to be enraged. Engagement, after all, is the only currency that matters.
Breaking the Reflection
Having seen how the sausage was made, I knew I had a responsibility to not eat it. The first step to escaping the funhouse is realising you're in it. The technology I explore in *Obsidian* is a fictionalised version of the tools I saw being built and deployed in the gambling world and later in politics.
So, how do you break the mirror? You have to deliberately seek out the undistorted view. I make it a point to read publications from across the political spectrum. I follow people I fundamentally disagree with, not to argue, but to understand their reality. I question my own emotional responses. When a headline makes my blood boil, I ask: Is this information, or is this outrage-as-a-service?
The tragedy is that any tool designed to understand the human mind can just as easily be used to manipulate it. The mirror can always be warped. Our responsibility, as citizens of the digital age, is to learn how to spot the distortions. I learned it by building them. I hope you can learn it by reading this.