
Algorithmic Governance and Political Legitimacy - collapse
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2019/05/algorithmic-governance-and-political-legitimacy/
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nerdponx
_The rationale offered is that automated decision-making will be more
reliable. But a further attraction is that it serves to insulate various forms
of power from popular pressures._

Who in their right mind would argue that? The benefit is that it's a lot
faster. If machine learning worked as well as mechanical engineering, we would
have a serious industrial revolution on our hands.

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avmich
> If machine learning worked as well as mechanical engineering, we would have
> a serious industrial revolution on our hands.

True, but it can be non-obvious that algorithms can produce such problems.

Also an unexpected result from an algorithm can be compared to an unexpected
result from an application of law, including a consequence of a contract. Like
one can complain that an algorithm is wrong for whatever reason in a
particular case, similarly one can complain that a law requires some unfair
things in some case, or a contract leads to some actually non-agreed
consequence.

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molticrystal
For those interested in this topic, BBC's documentary _All Watched Over By
Machines Of Loving Grace_ is a great watch covering everything from communes,
and Any Rand's influence upon the founders of Silicon valley, and of course
Algorithmic Governance.

"All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace is a BBC television documentary
series by filmmaker Adam Curtis In the series, Curtis argues that computers
have failed to liberate humanity, and instead have 'distorted and simplified
our view of the world around us.'"[0]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_o...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_of_Loving_Grace_\(TV_series\))

