Artificial Communication? The Production of Contingency by Algorithms

TLDR

Discourse on smart algorithms and digital social agents still focuses on reproducing human faculties, while algorithms that do not emulate human thinking can affect society’s information acquisition and processing. This paper critically reconstructs the debate on the computational turn of big data as the artificial reproduction of communication, urging a reconsideration of the concept of communication in light of algorithmic developments. The authors use Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems to frame communication, then critically reconstruct the computational turn of big data as an artificial reproduction of communication. Recent developments show that algorithms are more efficient when they abandon intelligence reproduction and instead reproduce communication, with self‑learning algorithms parasitically exploiting users’ contributions to a virtual double contingency, thereby adding non‑thought information to the communication circuit and increasing its complexity.

Abstract

Abstract Discourse about smart algorithms and digital social agents still refers primarily to the construction of artificial intelligence that reproduces the faculties of individuals. Recent developments, however, show that algorithms are more efficient when they abandon this goal and try instead to reproduce the ability to communicate. Algorithms that do not “think” like people can affect the ability to obtain and process information in society. Referring to the concept of communication in Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, this paper critically reconstructs the debate on the computational turn of big data as the artificial reproduction not of intelligence but of communication. Self-learning algorithms parasitically take advantage – be it consciously or unaware – of the contribution of web users to a “virtual double contingency.” This provides society with information that is not part of the thoughts of anyone, but, nevertheless, enters the communication circuit and raises its complexity. The concept of communication should be reconsidered to take account of these developments, including (or not) the possibility of communicating with algorithms.