Open AccessAlgorithmic Fetishism
Author(s) -
Torin Monahan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
surveillance and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.781
H-Index - 46
ISSN - 1477-7487
DOI - 10.24908/ss.v16i1.10827
Subject(s) - fetishism , code (set theory) , intervention (counseling) , epistemology , point (geometry) , sociology , beauty , computer science , psychology , philosophy , mathematics , geometry , set (abstract data type) , psychiatry , anthropology , programming language
Surveillance-infused forms of algorithmic discrimination are beginning to capture public and scholarly attention. While this is an encouraging development, this editorial questions the parameters of this emerging discussion and cautions against algorithmic fetishism. I characterize algorithmic fetishism as the pleasurable pursuit of opening the black box, discovering the code hidden inside, exploring its beauty and flaws, and explicating its intricacies. It is a technophilic desire for arcane knowledge that can never be grasped completely, so it continually lures one forward into technical realms while deferring the point of intervention. The editorial concludes with a review of the articles in this open issue.