Black Box Society
I would like to say I have never heard the story of the man and the lamppost just to put it out there. But it is a really good metaphor for our relationship with technology and the futility of security we have now. What are some ways we experience what the author defines as agnotology? How does it effect our daily lives? I think at its core this article is about knowledge and how a lot of our knowledge is hidden from us by the society around us for a variety of reasons, some malicious, like using our data for profit, others not so much. But all effect how we go through the world and how we can access and deal with data and personal privacy.
The Era of Blind Faith in Big Data Must End
The fact that teachers are getting fired because an algorithm said so reminds me of the surveillance articles about students being tracked by apps that were faulty. It puts technology first and literal humans second and its so easy for it to be broken or otherwise abused its crazy. What O’Neil said is really on point, algorithms repeat patterns, and this would be fine if our world was perfect but it isn’t. To blindly rely on them is only furthering disparities, because just like other data and AI related things, they are made by humans, and humans have bias.
Automating Inequality
My experiment opting out of big data
A side note before I even start, I find the term sociologist of technology to be interested when typically sociology is the study of human society itself. I assume this means like looking at society in terms of technology but the phrasing was interesting to me.
I’m surprised this experiment was actually even nominally successful considering the examples the author had of friends and family members still going against her wishes with things like Facebook messages. This article really shows how its almost (read probably) impossible to be completely off the big data grid, and that it is impossible to simply opt out and have that be enough. There isn’t really a choice as the author states, and its not a matter of simply leave it if you dont like it, because our society is set up to make it impossible to leave.
The Computer says No
I always say comedy is the most truthful. This one is difficult to respond to because its so short but it is very quick to the point of our reliance on technology. It reminds me of the times when I used to do compliance checks for stores that sold tobacco and the cashiers wouldn’t trust the computers if they thought I was old enough (or purposefully didn’t type it in right.) Its blindly following whatever the computer says regardless of what your thoughts on the matter might be.