{"id":191,"date":"2019-12-23T16:10:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T16:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/?p=191"},"modified":"2019-12-25T18:13:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-25T18:13:32","slug":"automatism-automaticity-20th-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2019\/12\/23\/automatism-automaticity-20th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Automatism + Automaticity \u2013 20th Century"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you thought my previous introduction<\/a> was dark, then if you use your imagination a little to color in the details of what comes next, then you may actually begin to lose your faith in humanity \u2013 but I choose to spare you such sketches, because I myself don’t even want to have to stomach such gory images of reality. *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout\nthe 20th<\/sup> Century, there was much interest in automatism\nand automaticity. The beginnings of this interest can easily be\ntraced far back into the 19th<\/sup> Century, but rather than\nmeticulously detailing the historical background, let me point out\nthat the interest in these topics was from several different sources.\nIndustrialization generally raised interest in machinery and\nautomation. At the same time, Marxist ideas contrasted capital with\nlabor. There was also much scientific interest in logic and\nreasoning, and finally there were also significant scientific\nadvances in medicine and also in related fields such as psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nthe middle of the 20th<\/sup> Century, a new industry known as\n\u201cmedia\u201d had become established \u2013 and this new industry (with\nroots in publishing dating back several hundred years, ultimately to\nthe invention of Gutenberg’s printing press) was strongly aligned\nwith and likewise strongly based in capitalism. This led to much\nresearch and development in promoting and increasing the productivity\nof capital investment, resulting in less interest in human-centered\n(\u201chumanist\u201d) analyses (final result: more interest in profit\nmaximization).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthis context, there was an increasing divergence between machinery\nand automation on the one hand, and human interests (including\nnotions of \u201chumanity\u201d and \u201chumane behavior\u201d) on the other.\nIncreasingly, humans became an input into algorithms focused on\nmaximizing other measures, such as output or profit. Today,\nautomatism is popularly viewed as a dystopic Luddite horror story\nrather than in a context of scientific fascination with natural\nphenomena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nideal scenario in this scheme is the \u201cmaking money while you sleep\u201d\nimage, that of a fat slob sipping a drink, gazing at bathing\nbeauties, while relaxing under a palm tree along the beach on some\nremote island beside a laptop tallying up the money rolling in as\ndumb laborers in some grungy industrial town far away work in\nsweatshops to scratch together enough money for rent, food, clothing\nand maybe every now and then a cigarette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You just assumed that someone was paying attention.<\/p>Nat Simons of Renaissance Technologies, quoted in Malcolm Gladwell, \u201cTalking to Strangers\u201d, chapter 4, audio version 12:52 [talking about the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme fiasco]<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Apparently,\nno one was paying attention to the ponzi scheme fraud perpetrated by\nBernie Madoff \u2013 nor to any of the dozens of cases of crimes against\nhumanity documented in Malcolm Gladwell’s book. There are many many\nmore cases throughout the 20th<\/sup> Century where apparently no\none was paying attention. In most industrial countries a large\nportion of the population ingest chemicals to help them pay less\nattention, produced by industries making ever more profits. Is this a\ncase of automaticity in action? Is this good or bad, right or wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nindustries reap large profits by manipulating information such that\nhumans automatically behave in ways reminiscent of Pavlov’s\nexperiments with dogs. These industries are able to reap so much\nprofit, that they are willing and able to invest large sums into\nresearch and development \u2013 not about products or services, but\nrather about marketing<\/em> products and services to consumers\nwilling and able to pay<\/em> for them, leading to more profits for\nthese industries. Is this a case of automaticity in action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we utilize a search algorithm, are we aware of the way that search algorithm works? A few years ago, I asked Matt Mullenweg to pay attention to this question<\/a>. There were thousands of software developers in the room \u2013 you could hear a pin drop. Later, several developers spoke with me and laughed at how absurd it was for me to question Google’s authority in this field. Is this a case of automaticity in action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n20th<\/sup> Century is over, but we need to be aware of our\nroots. There are legacy technologies. Each legacy technology\npotentially gives rise to its own distinct legacy automaticity. We\nare morally accountable for our decisions to use a technology, or to\nrefrain from using it. If Greta Thunberg can choose to cross the\nAtlantic Ocean in a boat, you can choose to behave rationally the\nnext time you search for information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nare free to choose. Will we choose the automatism of a Pavlov dog?\nSometimes, yes. Always? Well, maybe we ought to ponder the\nalternatives a little more….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* I am reminded here of Susan Sontag’s excellent \u201cRegarding the Pain of Others\u201d \u2013 if you need a little more disgust in your life, I recommend picking up a copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[thank u, next<\/a>] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you thought my previous introduction was dark, then if you use your imagination a little to color in the details of what comes next, then you may actually begin to lose your faith in humanity \u2013 but I choose … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[313],"tags":[618,147,148,146,14,16,15,577,578,575,576,574,623,19,168,201,635,261,634,630,631,632,645,646,647,165,627,628,167,415,414,622,624,644,636,248,620,621,23,619,213,633,155,642,643,348,625,626,649,462,300,301,192,600,601,637,638,648,639,640,650,629],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w79D-35","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":185,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2019\/12\/21\/automatism-automaticity-first-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":0},"title":"Automatism + Automaticity \u2013 First Thoughts","author":"nmw","date":"December 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Automatism and automaticity are \u201creal concepts\u201d, but they are not widely used \u2026 or at least not widely used everywhere in the same way. One of the fields where these concepts are most widely used is in the broad field of medicine (or even more broadly biology). Here, the conceptual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":196,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2019\/12\/25\/automatism-automaticity-lets-do-this-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":1},"title":"Automatism + Automaticity \u2013 Let’s do this right!","author":"nmw","date":"December 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In the previous episode, I raised some concerns about how automatism and automaticity affect us, our technologies and therefore also the world in general. I quoted a line from Malcolm Gladwell's most recent book, \u201cTalking to strangers\u201d \u2013 but I didn't mention how he noted that although Holy Fools (people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":200,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2019\/12\/27\/automatism-automaticity-what-is-my-role\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":2},"title":"Automatism + Automaticity \u2013 What is my role?","author":"nmw","date":"December 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"While writing the previous episodes, I wondered how other people would react to them. I decided to publish them even though I think most people are not very concerned about the well-being of others. I expect most people will react with something like \u201cwhat do I care what happens after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/07\/21\/the-rationality-of-algorithms-facebook-algorithm-google-algorithms-or-no-algorithm-at-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":3},"title":"The Rationality of Algorithms: Facebook Algorithm, Google Algorithms or No Algorithm at All?","author":"nmw","date":"July 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you could choose any of the following three options, which one would you pick? Facebook Algorithm Google Algorithms No Algorithm whatsoever Granted: You probably have more choices than that \u2013 I'm just trying to keep it simple (stupid ;) ). Let's review the steps involved. First, you publish something.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/09\/12\/the-rationality-of-buzz\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":4},"title":"The Rationality of Buzz","author":"nmw","date":"September 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's early on a Monday morning \u2013 I would say \u201cbright and early\u201d, but it's so early that the sun is still nowhere in sight. At any rate, the week is about to begin and so I figure it's a good time to think about the barrage of buzz that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":77,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2017\/05\/11\/blogs-are-born-free-yet-everywhere-they-are-in-seo\/","url_meta":{"origin":191,"position":5},"title":"Blogs are born free, yet everywhere they are in SEO","author":"nmw","date":"May 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"You might think I sound like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, but I can assure you there is no need to go back that far in time. Are you old enough to remember the case of Trent Lott? Or how about \u201cmiserable failure\u201d? Are you even aware that Google ever cleansed the web?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "impost"","block_context":{"text":"impost","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/org\/org-impost\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}