This is the kind of title that I would edit. The article is about how the National Resident Matching Program will use an implementation of the Gale-Shapley algorithm for matching medical students and residencies. The title makes it sound much more significant than it is; virtually all of us "put our future in the hands of an algorithm" countless times every day. Everything we do that leaves a trace in a database somewhere will affect our future to varying degrees.
The article does not overstate the significance. Have you known people going through Match? It is quite significant for those 34,000 people.
I don't follow your argument. The match process has very little in common with people leaving traces of information in a database.
I'll compare the NRMP with something in the same ballpark: a credit score. There are three services (last I checked) involved there. You might have a mix-up, but a credit score can be disputed and corrected. To my knowledge, for all practical purposes, there is little recourse if the Match does not go as you hoped other than trying again the following year.
One might also compare the NRMP with the standardized tests for college admissions; that would make for an interesting discussion.
