You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

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.

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You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

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.

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You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

by José Marichal
You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

by José Marichal

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Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on September 16, 2025

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Overview

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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781529244731
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Publication date: 09/16/2025
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 176

About the Author

José Marichal is Professor of Political Science at California Lutheran University.

Table of Contents

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

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