Affective Encounters of the Algorithmic Kind: Post-Truth and Posthuman Pleasure

Abstract

This article goes beyond the current discourse on post-truth, fake news, and related developments by tracing the emergence of a broader and more fundamental change-a posthuman turn in politics. The article begins with examining the background of post-truth and the causes of its prominence. Those causes are found to primarily lie in the natural human predilection for pleasure and satisfaction as well as capacity for affective agglomeration. Such agglomeration is particularly manifest in the digital and, even more specifically, new media environment where the abundance of information and alignment opportunities has led to incessant competition of media and political actors for audience attention. The main weapon in this competitive struggle is maximization of consumer satisfaction, that is, pleasure (and not, e.g. veracity). However, the main transformative factor that both enable the maximization of satisfaction and lead to the posthuman turn is the abundance of data and the potential for its algorithmic analysis as well as interpretation of the results of such analysis. In this context, data-rich algorithm-wielding political actors are capable of knowing in advance the utterances and other affective triggers necessary to alter their audiences' choice environments in such a way that it will have no other option but to choose the preferred outcome, receiving pleasure in return. However, the same political actors are simultaneously reduced to mouthpieces for algorithmically selected utterances instead of themselves being active shapers of political strategy. Consequently, humans must share agency with algorithms and other pieces of code, if not cede it altogether.

Steak and bleach as science communication heroes? The rise of post-corona, posthuman irony

“…One other impact of this increased online hybridity is the increased posthuman of social digital interaction, where the physical is formed in the online manifestation to extend the offline persona [Couldry and Hepp, 2017;Kalpokas, 2019]. Non-avatar entities are created, interacting with human cyphers online.…”

“…3. A posthuman turn in both the sociality of digital communication and of marketing [Campbell, O'Driscoll and Saren, 2010;Campbell, Deane and Murphy, 2015;Couldry and Hepp, 2017;Kalpokas, 2019;Kozinets, 2008;Kozinets, 2015;Thrift, 2004;Thrift, 2005;Thrift, 2014].…”

Euforia y pesimismo en tiempos de internet. Hacia una relectura de los efectos políticos de los medios sociales a la luz de las mediaciones

“…En particular, propuestas como las de Han (2013Han ( /2014aHan ( , 2014b o Kalpokas (2019), que presuponen una capacidad de influencia a nivel preconsciente y casi irresistible, son por lo menos discutibles en el nivel actual de conocimiento sobre el funcionamiento de los procesos cognitivos del ser humano. Kinder (2003) señala que la evidencia acerca del «procesamiento automático», que está en la base de la capacidad de influencia de los medios a un nivel preconsciente, es o bien mixta o indirecta, y que existen propuestas alternativas que encuentran procesos más reflexivos y autoconscientes.…”