Saturday, December 07, 2019

Algocracy

Youngest Son and I decided we needed a new word to describe rule by the dead hand of computer algorithms. Some sci-Fi, and some modern political jawing, posit the use of automatically enforced rules. The matter is starting to become more relevant with auto-driving autos and the question "In crashing, what/who do you sacrifice?"

Have any of us not had the frustration of speaking with a bureaucrat whose reply to our problem is "Those are the rules" or "That's what the computer tells me"? Or, worse yet, hitting a "call tree" that doesn't include our option and has no operator?

In an older example, quite a few cities quit sponsoring 4'th of July fireworks shows--not because of any new laws, but because the insurance company algorithms decided it was risky and therefore to be punished with extra fees.

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