I love books, I like music, and I don't mind the news. When I'm sent a link to something a friend thinks I should read, hear, or view, I take it seriously. Recommendations are essential to my quality of life.

It's a good thing I feel this way, because recommendations are everywhere on the Internet. Wherever I shop online, some sliver of my screen is prompting me with a come-hither like "Customers who bought this item also ... ." Pop-ups and context-sensitive advertisements have been supplemented by this low, seductive whisper of automated suggestion. The truth is that I now get more good recommendations about more things, more often, from Bayesian algorithms than from my best friends. Perhaps this should make me wistful, but it doesn't. Better tech­nology doesn't mean worse friends.