Intro
Algorithmic society! While the expression has been justly criticized – difficult indeed to imagine a society reduced solely to digitally-mediated relationships – it has the merit of underlining the omnipresence of computerized methods of calculation (i.e., algorithms) and their seemingly irresistible extension. Recommender systems, image generators, surveillance devices, automatic correctors, chat bots: not a single day goes by without our courses of action entangling themselves with hundreds of algorithms inscribed in the depths of more or less obscure computers.
For the past ten years, this state of affairs has fueled desires for regulation in more and more countries. The rationale is clear and legitimate: as one of the driving forces of what is commonly referred to – somewhat abstractly – as digital technology (and recently, even more abstractly, artificial intelligence), algorithms must comply with the legal and ethical frameworks of the societies they irrigate. But this is far from easy, not least because of the abstract contours of the notion of algorithm. Indeed, how are algorighms concretely constructed? What are the collective dynamics involved in their shaping? And how do these shaping dynamics affect the very content of algorithms? In short, what are the social and technical ingredients of algorithms, and how can we seize these ingredients to effectively regain control over algorithms, those black boxes that feed decisions, loves, and sorrows?
Answering these questions in order to help work out techno-political compromises is the big challenge that my colleagues and I in Science & Technology Studies (STS) – a subfield of sociology that aims at documenting the co-constitution of science, technology and the collective world – are taking up. Check out some of our propositions here! And if you want to reach out, use this: florian@florian-jaton.com
