A Speculative Post on the Idea of Algorithmic Authority « Clay Shirky - 2 views
-
Khotyn is a small town in Moldova. That is a piece of information about Eastern European geography, and one that could be right or could be wrong. You’ve probably never heard of Khotyn, so you have to decide if you’re going to take my word for it. (The “it” you’d be taking my word for is your belief that Khotyn is a town in Moldova.)
-
Do you trust me? You don’t have much to go on, and you’d probably fall back on social judgement — do other people vouch for my knowledge of European geography and my likelihood to tell the truth?
-
o I have certification from an institution
- ...2 more annotations...
-
sounds to me like his 'authority' is really based on reputation more than anything else, but there's also the element of trust. If you demonstrate accuracy within a certain realm of knowledge, you build up reputation, and those that have awareness of that reputation can trust you to continue that accuracy. Herein lies the trap. If I implicitly trust your authority based on past action, and fail to continue questioning that authority, then I open myself up to all sorts of shenanigans. Look at Bernie Madhoff...
-
Call Aardvark!