Algorithmic Dictatorship

Abstraction: Critical essay arguing algorithms enable authoritarian social control

Key points:

• Author argues GAFAM corporations (Google, Apple, Facebook/Meta, Amazon, Microsoft) supply the infrastructure of mass surveillance that serves both governments and corporate profit
• Algorithms shape perception of normality, inform policing decisions (predictive geography), and steer consumption via behavioral psychology / persuasion technology
• ChatGPT is cited as a tipping point enabling post-human discourse — content without human authors — further eroding agency
• The essay draws on Nietzsche, Kant, Adorno, and Mumford's "megamachine" to frame algorithmic control as a threat to Mündigkeit (mature, self-determined personhood)
• "Singularity" is framed as a road sign toward digital dictatorship: self-learning AI that operates without human reprogramming or control

Connections: AI Ethics · Algorithmic Bias · Surveillance

Source: https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/03/21/algorithmic-dictatorship/