Book | Critique of Data Society - Lee Kwang-seok (feat. Dejavu AI)

In a data-algorithm society, the workings of power take place very stealthily inside the algorithmic 'blackbox(es)' of cutting-edge technology hidden behind the platform - and the fact that it does, in itself, makes it tremendously difficult to grasp the actual logic of the dominant code or to construct a counter-logic. According to Luke Dormehl, the author of "The Formula", one of the reasons we worship Google's capabilities is that it is like sorcery: only the final search result appears, and we have no way of knowing about the workings of the technology on the other side. In other words, Google's knack for deliberately hiding its data-analysis technology beneath a very simple interface can be seen as the act of dressing up the logic of an algorithmic blackbox - inaccessible to ordinary people - in the myth of transparency afforded by the simplicity of the search bar.

The algorithm is mythical not only in the fact that it is hidden inside a blackbox, but in the way that, in practically a fraction of a second, calculations and judgments unfold right before our eyes and the result is then presented to us. Recall the Google search bar that returns the result you want in just a few seconds through a plain interface. Google's algorithmic, automated, machine-arithmetic formula is represented as a flawless, post-ideological computational value, and so it appears almost like the triumph of capitalist realism. Even though prejudice and contamination toward technology are inevitably inscribed into the data-coding process, the myth of the automated algorithm relentlessly disguises modern technological power as a neutral, flawless science. p.71