Archive

Problematic Predictions: A Complex Question for Complex Systems

When you make a deci­sion to opt for an auto­mat­ed process, to some extent you’re already by doing so com­pro­mis­ing trans­paren­cy. Or you could say it the oth­er way around. It’s pos­si­ble to argue that if you opt for extreme­ly strict trans­paren­cy reg­u­la­tion, you’re mak­ing a com­pro­mise in terms of automation.

Sleepwalking into Surveillant Capitalism, Sliding into Authoritarianism

We have increas­ing­ly smart, sur­veil­lant per­sua­sion archi­tec­tures. Architectures aimed at per­suad­ing us to do some­thing. At the moment it’s click­ing on an ad. And that seems like a waste. We’re just click­ing on an ad. You know. It’s kind of a waste of our ener­gy. But increas­ing­ly it is going to be per­suad­ing us to sup­port some­thing, to think of some­thing, to imag­ine something.

Nobody Knows a Damn Thing

I’ve always been real­ly inter­est­ed in this idea of whether or not we can pre­dict hits. You speak to any­one who works in the enter­tain­ment indus­try, and every­one has their was sto­ries of that film they were sure was going to become a hit which some­how became a miss. There are niche films which appeal to every­one, and per­haps more like­ly, films that are designed to appeal to every­one which some­how appeal to no one.