
Computing pioneer Bob Frankston says algorithms are the new bureaucracy [audio] - ston3r
https://factordaily.com/outliers-bob-frankston/
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walterbell
Is there a special term for opaque algorithms with no human customer service
contact info or practical alternative? An algorithmic incarnation of Terry
Gilliam's "Brazil" and "Office Space".

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golemotron
All we have now are examples like Google and Facebook.

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SomeStupidPoint
Microsoft has recently switched to an unhelpful, enraging chat bot for their
help service and hidden their actual contact information.

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SomeStupidPoint
The whole point of electronic computers being able to perform algorithms was
to replace the work of computers (the human kind) in huts filling out sheets
according to strict rules.

They're literally an attempt to replace humans as the mechanism by which rote
paperwork can be done -- that they're used this way by business isn't terribly
surprising.

So algorithms aren't the "new bureaucracy", they're the new way of doing the
old bureaucracy -- as they were since inception. This is a feature, not a bug.

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marmaduke
I used to hate paperwork for interacting with bureaucracy until I looked at it
as a sort of high latency RESTful API.

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Dowwie
Reframing a difficult situation is a successful coping skill!

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marmaduke
Yep, but not just coping. I think reframing is a way of conceptual refactoring
to improve any thought process. It’s not always successful though..

I’ve also wondered if some elements of brainstorming could be automated, such
as reframing a situation in random ways and see what the result is like..

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walterbell
For engineering problems, TRIZ has classes of solutions based on principles of
previously solved problems, a semi-structured "random" walk,
[https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~jps7/Lecture%20notes/TRIZ%204...](https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~jps7/Lecture%20notes/TRIZ%2040%20Principles.pdf)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ)

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maxxxxx
There is also the term "faceless bureaucracy" which I think describes the
situation best.

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rnprince
Very cool interview, but I'm struggling to understand it. Consider tweaking
the acoustics of your recording space to reduce reverb.

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CharlesW
ston3r, I'd be glad to help improve the audio and give you pointers on doing
it yourself. Just send a link to uncompressed source audio to me at cwiltgen
at Gmail.

