GEAB 196

SIGNALS

Analyses of the techno-social landscape generally promise us a future increasingly influenced by the major technological powers, via their algorithms which today govern life online. This projection is based on the assumption of a linear and indefinite continuity in the evolution of the life of ‘homo numericus‘ over the last ten years.

But this month, our SIGNALS section, in partnership with A l’aube du Futur, picks out a series of weak signals from the present that fuel a divergent vision: the years ahead could put the ‘little hands’ or ‘commoners’ (French manants, see GEAB 194) – and their brains – back in greater control of the Internet’s governance and economic model.

The return of individual training screening

The first role that algorithms play in our online lives is to help us navigate through the millions of publications that pour onto the Internet every day. It’s a role that has gradually evolved into one of leadership, culminating in the extreme case of TikTok/Instagram, where the content that pops up on users’ feeds is chosen primarily based on data of which they are unaware. Nevertheless, as is often the case when an extreme is reached, counter-measures emerge.