Published
Oct 1, 2025Page count
176 pagesISBN
978-1529244724Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Oct 14, 2025Page count
176 pagesISBN
978-1529244717Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Oct 1, 2025Page count
176 pagesISBN
978-1529244731Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem
In the age of AI, where personal data fuels corporate profits and state surveillance, what are the implications for democracy?
This incisive book explores the unspoken agreement we have with tech companies. In exchange for reducing the anxiety of an increasingly complex online world, we submit to algorithmic classification and predictability. This reduces incentives for us to become “algorithmic problems” with dire consequences for liberal democracy. He calls for a movement to demand that algorithms promote play, creativity and potentiality rather than conformity.
This is a must-read for anyone navigating the intersection of technology, politics and identity in an increasingly data-driven world.
José Marichal is Professor of Political Science at California Lutheran University.
Introduction: You Must Remain an Algorithmic Problem
Chapter 1: How Much of a Problem are We?
Chapter 2: The Politics of Optimization
Chapter 3: The Problem for Democracy
Chapter 4: The Algorithmic Contract and its Discontents
Chapter 5: The Classification Economy
Chapter 6: Optimizing Identity
Chapter 7: Algorithmic Obligation
