To Scale: The Universalist and Imperialist Narrative of Big Tech

Abstract

I am currently working on a research project about scaling and universalism as an epistemic value. I showed how the claim that algorithms can scale over dimensions such as time, space and complexity is rationally fallacious. Now, I wish to explore how power can explain why this narrative, while rationally ungrounded, is still spreading and gaining influence, with some disastrous consequences.