Agnotology in Network Platforms and Neoliberal Ideology

• In Event: Rethinking Challenges of Technology: AI, Algorithms, and Biopower

Abstract

The nature of the network platform business has allowed for the encroachment of neoliberal ideology into the general political subconscious and created a process of ignorance making for profit. Rather than just an inability to form synthesis from opposing concepts, rampant commodification has led to a state in which a dialectic is unable to even find a point of origin. In this paper I examine the nature of increasing reliance on network platforms and the political implications therein. I argue that the agnogenesis of modern political thought and continued extirpation of the dialectic can be derived directly from network platforms and their applications. The inherent attributes of attention-economy businesses demand continued additions to subscriber counts, at any and all cost. Brought into existence by neoliberal culture, these organizations have crafted a nearly perfect method of propaganda dispersion. As algorithms filter out any content that a user is less likely to engage with, the construction of individualized echo chambers come about. Users are exposed to minimized, and in some cases caricatured forms, of competing perspectives. Their own viewpoint is reinforced through repetition and confirmation bias. This continued use of echo chambers, propaganda, and affective polarization has removed the ability for those subscribers to engage in a dialectic.

Author

• Zachary R Thomas, Bergen Community College