Illiberal algorithms – Idees

The close of the first decade of the 21st century marked the final end of the dream of deregulated global capitalism as a historical horizon of peace and prosperity. From 2008, the so-called Great Recession established new political coordinates characterised by the normalisation of precariousness and the rise of illiberal movements. Similarly, the close of the second decade of the 21st century has been marked by the end of the hopes placed on digital technology as a means of extra-political solution--analogous and complementary to the commercial--to our economic, cultural and social problems. For at least three decades--from the 1980s to the outbreak of the crisis--the vertigo of social weakening and the vital risk associated with global financialisation, labour flexibility and the loss of political sovereignty were somehow curbed by expectations of economic growth and, above all, technological progress. It is difficult to call into question the decomposition of this social programme.