On Social Machines for Algorithmic Regulation

TL;DR

This paper explores how existing social and technical systems can enable algorithmic regulation of society, discussing implications for autonomy, social order, and ethics.

Contribution

It identifies converging social and technological trends that facilitate social regulation by algorithms and discusses their potential societal impacts.

Findings

Existing technologies can implement algorithmic regulation

Social and technical trends are converging towards social regulation

Implications for autonomy and social order are significant

Abstract

Autonomous mechanisms have been proposed to regulate certain aspects of society and are already being used to regulate business organisations. We take seriously recent proposals for algorithmic regulation of society, and we identify the existing technologies that can be used to implement them, most of them originally introduced in business contexts. We build on the notion of 'social machine' and we connect it to various ongoing trends and ideas, including crowdsourced task-work, social compiler, mechanism design, reputation management systems, and social scoring. After showing how all the building blocks of algorithmic regulation are already well in place, we discuss possible implications for human autonomy and social order. The main contribution of this paper is to identify convergent social and technical trends that are leading towards social regulation by algorithms, and to discuss the possible social, political, and ethical consequences of taking this path.