S4 Ep. 275 Culture, Numbers, And How We Think

Ever notice how a single idea repeats all day until it becomes the only thing you can think about? That’s not an accident—it’s a pattern doing its quiet work. We take you from kitchen-table math to the beating heart of social media, showing how simple operations like addition, subtraction, and multiplication shape attention, spread ideas, and, over time, harden into culture.

We begin by reframing culture as repetition across time, then connect that to how algorithms curate what we see and reward what we repeat. Math anxiety often keeps us from noticing the basics: more exposure adds weight, suppression subtracts momentum, and a single high-leverage share multiplies reach at a geometric clip. When platforms optimize for engagement, negativity often rides the fastest path. Tell a lie a thousand times and familiarity starts masquerading as truth. That’s the culture of algorithm, where small signals—clicks, saves, comments—compound into social reality.

Instead of surrendering to the feed, we lay out a practical playbook for building positive algorithms. Set clear signals with consistent publishing, crisp framing, and useful takeaways. Invite reinforcement that rewards depth over heat. Partner with aligned voices to multiply quality, not just volume. Define success beyond clicks—look for retention, clarity, and behavior change. We also unpack the psychology behind the tech: novelty, reward schedules, pattern fluency, and social proof. Like walking a city filled with repeating colors, your focus is trained by frequencies; choose the colors you want your audience to dream about.

Nature offers a model too. Ants follow trails, and when a path breaks, they adapt and lay a new one. That’s the mindset we need: responsible creators engineering attention with care, communities choosing repetition that serves truth, and leaders who measure what compounds learning, not just what spikes. If we repeat better patterns, the math will work for us. Subscribe, share with a friend who shapes culture, and leave a review telling us one positive pattern you plan to repeat this week.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

The human experience, such a beautiful thing.

Math Anxiety And Everyday Fractions

From Basic Math To Social Media

The Number Game And Negativity

Can We Create Positive Algorithms

SPEAKER_02 0:11

How do we form culture? Not looking at it scientifically, like from the point of um the social science as they would want to describe it, but you know that when a group, the group here referring to human beings, it could be even animals, as the case may be, begin to come together to do things in a similar way over and over, you know, like a tradition, and it is passed from one timeline to another. Could call that culture. So a lot of us, when you ask this question, a good number of us in school, that is, what's your worst subject? A good number of us will say math. I'm like, why is it math? I was doing an assignment with my little girl the other day on racial. And somehow, in course of doing the work, one of the answers, or some of the answers when I came in, were leading to fraction. And like she said, Daddy, it's not correct. And I was trying to explain to her, fractions are not always whole numbers. So, and we got, so I told her, okay, go back to your teacher and uh he will explain it to you and all of that. So, the culture of algorithm, that's what I want to talk about. I had to lay that foundation for us to understand the culture of algorithm. Now, if you are if you mention the word algorithm to a layman or whatever, the first thing that would most likely come to the person's mind is a math problem. Because it sounds mathematical, algorithm. And a lot of us shy away from math, but every day we come to see that math is influencing everything we're doing, so much so. So now the technology age, the age of artificial intelligence and all of that, we now have this issue of dealing with algo reading or algo readings, because a good number of us on the social media platform, marketing, commercial activities, e-commerce, and what have you. So now it's all about manipulating the numbers. So some the other day I was talking, having a conversation with my mentor, and on, and we're talking about learning and all of that, and the issue of why are people afraid of math came up, and he was trying to explain to me that when you look at math, math is you know, algebra, arithmetic, as the case may be, but you find plus, minus, division, multiplication, the equal to sign, what else? You know, so all the other concepts rides on this. When you bring one and one together, that's what addition. What happens? It increases. So when you take some out, what happens? That's a minus or taking away, it reduces. So when you bring one and one and take it away, giving power. What is that? Multiplication. So it's not just adding now, you are now increasing in that uh what I say, geometric or you know, that so when you look at it, that is what is playing out today in our culture, in our world. The number, the number game, the number game, and you've come to see that the beautiful things of life are known are not accentuated as it were, they're the negatives, supposedly, the negatives, the very unserious, fecal thoughts are those things that have been promoted. So you now come to see that one generation, because of the human tradition, picks it up and yes, you understand, passes it on to the next generation, and that generation takes it over, and before you know it, yeah. So 10 years ago, 20 years ago, we seldom heard the word algorithm. Did you? I don't think so. But now, because of how uh the social media has pervaded, uh, is so pervasive, rather, invaded our space. It's all about the numbers now, and the numbers seem to sway to the side of the negatives. You know, your streaming, what do we do to make this content, as we call it, viral, so we go follow the algorithm. So I was discussing with my team the other day on something that happened. The way I like presenting my thoughts on social media, you know, and I was like, okay, why are we not doing that anymore? One of my team members just said, sir, the algorithm is not favoring it anymore. And I was like, okay, what is this culture of algorithm? So everything we're doing now must follow or must be influenced by the algorithm.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Okay. So how do I create a positive algorithm?

SPEAKER_02 6:51

How do I create a mathematical principle or use the mathematical principle to my advantage in you know increasing the positivity, the truth?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

It's a big question. Really big. And I think it's one we need to we need to look hard.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Because the danger in negative algorithm is that we buy the lie for nothing. The lie is embraced. We now begin to leave the lie.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Someone said once, when you tell a lie a thousand times, becomes most likely true. People become begin to believe it. So we need to approach it. For those of us who are creating thoughts, creating content as we look at it today, everybody, you know, is into the space of content creation, and we don't understand.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

We don't understand, the good number of us don't understand the responsibility of what we are doing.

Psychology Behind The Tech

SPEAKER_02 8:18

So it is a question of taking responsibility, then creating that mathematical power to push what you are doing forward. The culture of algorithm. I think the first time I heard the word algorithm, what came to my mind was something we did back in school. You remember it? The log table. Yeah, logarithm, as we call it, influenced the way we looked at things, the way we, you know, when we're in the lab, you know, you're carrying out some calculations in the lab and all of that. Oh, I need the log table. You pick the lo table. So it's the same, in my opinion, the same principle now that most of the social media platforms, you know, are curating. And you know that there's a psychology to it. Yeah. So at the back end of what we call tech, as in technology, there is a psyche to it. There is a psyche to it. So, what is psyche? Simply put, in my simple explanation is spirit. Yes. So patterns, how we think, how we move, how we relate, and all of that. So on the back of that tech, there's a psychology in. So what the psychology does is to manipulate the mathematical ends of the tech to drive. Am I confusing you? I don't think so. You know, some of these things are things we know in terms of perception, but because we've not found the right words to describe them, so we just yeah, the culture of algorithm.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah. The culture of algorithm.

Patterns, Repetition, And Focus

SPEAKER_02 10:31

So let me explain a little further. Imagine you going through, let's say walking through a city, so many streets and all that, and the beginning of your journey, you saw a particular colour, red or white, or yellow or blue. And every 10 steps you take, or every 20 steps you take, the yellow repeats, the yellow repeats, the yellow repeats. The likelihood for you to go to bed thinking about yellow will most likely be 90, if not 100. Yeah. Yeah. The algorithm of the day, that you may call it that, the pattern of the day. So mathematical patterns have been created and it's moving. So you see a particular number, two, two, two, every 20 steps, every 30 steps. You see two in everything. You look at the billboard, two, you look at so your focus is more or less, should I say, taken over and interpreted by a mathematical.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Mm-hmm. All right then. We can actually change. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Yeah, we can actually change it when we put up the positive mathematical designs out there.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

The culture of algorithm. Okay. Alright then, guys.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Sometimes you need to pay attention to those salent and quiet things. You know, salent and quiet things.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Take for example, have you have you tried to observe? Look at ants, they always walk in a straight line.

Closing: Power Of Algorithmic Culture

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Try it, go look at it. They don't work in jagged zigzag, they always follow. So there is this algorithm, a mathematical design that they are following. If you try to derail them, they create another pattern, an algorithm that leads them. You see, I just woke you up. All right then. The culture of algorithm is powerful, more powerful than you know.