The last thematic issue of the journal Tic & société deals with the analysis of the phenomenon of massive data as an algorithmic device of collection and accumulation of data, allowing their processing by artificial intelligence mechanisms. More specifically, this issue intends to question the consequences of these devices of automation of the production, circulation and consumption of data on the modalities of reproduction of the society
Maxime Ouellet, coordinator of this issue, sets out to " lay the conceptual foundations for the elaboration of a critical theory of algorithmic governance by showing how contemporary developments in artificial intelligence contribute to the disqualification of the letter in favor of the number, that is, to the substitution of language by (computer) code. On the socio-political level, this mutation leads to the implementation of a new form of regulation of social practice, algorithmic governance, which is based on a process of automation of knowledge production.
Baptiste Rappin goes back to the epistemological sources of this mutation, which has been described as "algorithmic governmentality" or "automatic society." In a univocal world governed by the logic of algorithmic calculation, in which deduction replaces symbolization, individuals are summoned to adapt in real time to the conditions of their environment, they are forced to interact directly with others, in the mode of mutual adjustment, thus evolving in a horizontal plane of immanence within which algorithmic logic and contractual logic reinforce each other.
Samuel Cossette shows how this process of language automation affects the general modalities of societal reproduction. The analysis focuses more specifically on recent developments in the field of argumentation mining, a field of research where Big Data and computational linguistics meet. " If argumentation mining is part of a post-political logic specific to algorithmic governmentality, it remains that human language is still far beyond what can be processed by computer. The author concludes in this sense that it is in the symbolic and affective dimension particular to human language that we can find the resources to resist algorithmic reason.
David Myles and Martin Blais have undertaken an analysis of the advice guides developed around the dating application Tinder. The authors show that these guides generally invoke the opacity of Tinder's algorithms to encourage their users to "hack" the app."Hacking" here does not refer to users' ability to manipulate the computer system, but rather to "the importance of users modulating their behaviors to make them more algorithmically intelligible, and this is especially true for their gender." Tinder's algorithms, the authors conclude, participate in the reproduction of a speculative dating economy.
Arnaud Claes and his co-authors deepen the critique of the hyper-personalization of media content by operationalizing it in two case studies, one dealing with the appropriation of recommendation systems by young people in the context of their media consumption, the other dealing with the modeling of alternative algorithmic devices that would make it possible to increase the diversity of content: " the phenomenon of filter bubbles constitutes a form of alienation in the sense in which Simondon defines it, i.e., as an absence of technical culture. To counter this phenomenon, they plead in favor of a "technical acculturation" which would allow to emancipate oneself from this alienation induced by the algorithms".
Frédérick Bruneault and Andréane Sabourin Laflamme review the main ethical theories that seek to frame contemporary developments in artificial intelligence from a normative point of view. They point out a polarization between two positions, substantialist and deflationist. " If the substantialist position is based on a deterministic conception according to which technology would develop in an autonomous way, thus generating the fear of a potential destruction of humanity, the deflationist perspective is based on an instrumental vision which draws its philosophical foundation from the liberal tradition for which the individual is a rational actor (.... These perspectives are based on acritical conceptions of technology that ignore the power relations involved in the development of digital technology and algorithmic governance", the authors favor a third perspective, informationalist, developed by the philosopher Luciano Floridi.
Contents- Maxime Ouellet : Algorithmic logic and societal reproduction: social mediations captured by algorithms
- Maxime Ouellet: For a critical theory of algorithmic governance and artificial intelligence
- Baptiste Rappin : From univocity to feedback : the critique of cybernetics in Heidegger's thought
- Samuel Cossette: Language, Post-Politics and Automation: A Preventive Critique of Artificial Argumentation [Full text]
- David Myles and Martin Blais: Ten little Tinder hacks: algorithms at the service of a speculative economy of love and sexual encounters
- Arnaud Claes, Victor Wiard, Heidi Mercenier, Thibault Philippette, Marie Dufrasne, Arnaud Browet and Raphaël Jungers: Recommendation algorithms and technical culture: thinking about the dialogue between education and design
- Frédérick Bruneault and Andréane Sabourin Laflamme: Ethics of artificial intelligence and social ubiquity of information and communication technologies: how to think about the ethical issues of AI in our information societies?
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