Government by algorithm: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:07, 22 May 2025

Revision as of 19:27, 23 May 2025

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[[File:Model Cybernetic Factory.svg|thumb|Model of cybernetic thinking about organisation. On the one hand in reality a system is determined. On the other hand, cybernetic factory can be modeled as a control system.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Cybernetic and Management |date=1959 |publisher=English Universities Press |chapter=XVI}}</ref>]]

Tim O'Reilly suggested that data sources and [[reputation system]]s combined in algorithmic regulation can outperform traditional regulations.<ref name=timoreilly/> For instance, once taxi-drivers are rated by passengers, the quality of their services will improve automatically and "drivers who provide poor service are eliminated".<ref name=timoreilly/> O'Reilly's suggestion is based on the [[control theory|control-theorerictheoretic]] concept of [[feedback|feed-back loop]]—[[positive feedback|improvements]] and [[negative feedback|disimprovements]] of reputation enforce desired behavior.<ref name=socialmachine/> The usage of feedback-loops for the management of social systems has already been suggested in [[management cybernetics]] by [[Stafford Beer]] before.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beer |first1=Stafford |author-link1=Stafford Beer |title=Platform for change : a message from Stafford Beer. |date=1975 |publisher=J. Wiley |isbn=978-0471948407}}</ref>

These connections are explored by [[Nello Cristianini]] and Teresa Scantamburlo, where the reputation-credit scoring system is modeled as an incentive given to the citizens and computed by a [[social machine]], so that rational agents would be motivated to increase their score by adapting their behaviour. Several ethical aspects of that technology are still being discussed.<ref name=socialmachine/>