Will big data algorithms dismantle the foundations of liberalism
In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari argues that technological advances of the
twenty-first century will usher in a significant shift in how humans make
important life decisions. Instead of turning to the Bible or the Quran, to
the heart or to our therapists, parents, and mentors, people will turn to
Big Data recommendation algorithms to make these choices for them. Much as
we rely on Spotify to recommend music to us, we will soon rely on
algorithms to decide our careers, spouses, and commitments. Harari also
predicts that next, the state will take away individuals’ rights to make
their own choices about their lives. If Google knows where your children
would flourish best in school, why should the state allow a fallible human
parent to decide? Liberalism—which, as Harari uses this term, refers to a
state of society in which human freedom to choose is respected and
championed—will collapse. In this paper, I argue that Harari’s conception
of the future implications of recommendation algorithms is deeply flawed,
for two reasons. First, users will not rely on algorithms to make decisions
for them because they have no reason to trust algorithms, which are
developed by companies with their own incentives, such as profit. Second,
for most of our life decisions, algorithms will not be able to be
developed, because the factors relevant to the decisions we face are unique
to our situation. I present an alternative depiction of the future: instead
of relying on algorithms to make decisions for us, humans will use
algorithms to enhance our decision-making by helping us consider the most
relevant choices first and notice information we might not otherwise.
Finally, I will also argue that even if computers could make many of our
decisions for us, liberalism as a political system would emerge unscathed.