Playing Ourselves into Feudalism: The Politics and Ethics of Playful Automation

Automation is everywhere. We fear the robots, but it is in fact a more insidious kind of automation, driven by algorithms and presented in a playful way, that is slowly corroding the social fabric. This “soft automation”, the use of algorithms to eliminate semi-skilled white-collar jobs, is transforming services into self-services, and killing the middle class as a result of it. There is a lot of concern over automation (Vallor, 2014). From the future of work in the face of disappearing jobs (Srnicek and Williams, 2015) to the fear of an AI planet (Bostrom, 2016), we are witnessing a revolution across labor: in the way it is organized, rewarded, and eliminated. We should be afraid of automation. Not only of the robots that will deprive factories from human jobs that require skill and expertise but not an academic education, but also of the quotidian, mundane forms of automation we are silently letting take hold of our daily life.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Miguel Sicart

Martin Pichlmair

Conference

Publication date: May 2018

Publication date (Print): May 2018

Pages: 1-4

Affiliations

[1 ] IT University of Copenhagen

Rued Langgaards Vej 7

2300 Copenhagen Denmark

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.5

SO-VID: a169eb69-3d52-4d00-86e2-6c040e90503d

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Politics of the Machines - Art and After

Conference acronym: EVA Copenhagen

Conference number: 7

Conference location: Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Conference date: 15 - 17 May 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Digital arts and culture

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.5

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

References

J Baudrillard 1996 The System of Objects Verso,London
N Bostrom 2016 Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies Oxford University Press Oxford
S Deterding 2012 Gamification: Designing for Motivation, Interactions 19 4 14 17
M Dieter 2014 ‘The Virtues of Critical Technical Practice’ Differences 25 1
M Flanagan 2009 Critical Play. Radical Game Design The MIT Press Cambridge, Mass
P Frase 2016 Four Futures: Life After Capitalism Verso London
M FuchsS FizekP Ruffino N Schrape 2014 Rethinking Gamification Meson Press Lüneburg
AR Galloway 2006 Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture University of Minnesota Press Minnesota
David J Getsy 2011 From Diversion to Subversion. Games, Play, and Twentieth-Century Art Penn State University Press Pennsylvania
A Lieberoth 2015 Shallow Gamification, Games and Culture 10 3 229 48
L Manovich 2014 Software Is the Message, Journal of Visual Culture 13 1 79 81
BD MittelstadtP AlloM TaddeoS Wachter L Floridi 2016 ‘The Ethics of Algorithms: Mapping the Debate’, Big Data & Society 3 2 1 21
J Rancière 2013 The Politics of Aesthetics Bloomsbury London
P SeidlerP Kolling M Hampshire 2016 terra0 – Can an augmented forest own and utilise itself? https://terra0.org/assets/pdf/terra0_white_paper_2016.pdf
M Sicart 2014 Play Matters The MIT Press Cambridge
N Srnicek A Williams 2016 Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work London Verso
S Vallor 2014 ’Moral Deskilling and Upskilling in a New Machine Age: Reflections on the Ambiguous Future of Character’, Philosophy &Technology 28 1 107 24
S.P WalzS Deterding 2015 The Gameful World The MIT Press Cambridge

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] J Baudrillard 1996 The System of Objects Verso,London

[2] N Bostrom 2016 Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies Oxford University Press Oxford

[3] S Deterding 2012 Gamification: Designing for Motivation, Interactions 19 4 14 17

[4] M Dieter 2014 ‘The Virtues of Critical Technical Practice’ Differences 25 1

[5] M Flanagan 2009 Critical Play. Radical Game Design The MIT Press Cambridge, Mass

[6] P Frase 2016 Four Futures: Life After Capitalism Verso London

[7] M FuchsS FizekP Ruffino N Schrape 2014 Rethinking Gamification Meson Press Lüneburg

[8] AR Galloway 2006 Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture University of Minnesota Press Minnesota

[9] David J Getsy 2011 From Diversion to Subversion. Games, Play, and Twentieth-Century Art Penn State University Press Pennsylvania

[10] A Lieberoth 2015 Shallow Gamification, Games and Culture 10 3 229 48

[11] L Manovich 2014 Software Is the Message, Journal of Visual Culture 13 1 79 81

[12] BD MittelstadtP AlloM TaddeoS Wachter L Floridi 2016 ‘The Ethics of Algorithms: Mapping the Debate’, Big Data & Society 3 2 1 21

[13] J Rancière 2013 The Politics of Aesthetics Bloomsbury London

[14] P SeidlerP Kolling M Hampshire 2016 terra0 – Can an augmented forest own and utilise itself? https://terra0.org/assets/pdf/terra0_white_paper_2016.pdf

[15] M Sicart 2014 Play Matters The MIT Press Cambridge

[16] N Srnicek A Williams 2016 Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work London Verso

[17] S Vallor 2014 ’Moral Deskilling and Upskilling in a New Machine Age: Reflections on the Ambiguous Future of Character’, Philosophy &Technology 28 1 107 24

[18] S.P WalzS Deterding 2015 The Gameful World The MIT Press Cambridge

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