The machine in the ghost: Autonomy, hyperconnectivity, and residual causality

Abstract

This article will examine the unnamed and potentially devastating constraining effect of software on human autonomy. I call this concept residual causality, where software design decisions made long ago in different circumstances for different reasons constrain human action in an unknown future. The less aware the designers of software systems are of complexity in social systems, the more likely they are to introduce residual causality. The introduction of intricate, ordered machines, to a world largely defined by disorder and heuristics, has caused philosophical perturbations that we have not fully dealt with. The machine in the ghost is the belief that machine thinking can be applied to the environment in which the machine will operate. As hyperconnectivity increases, the ghost becomes more unpredictable, unmanageable, and even less like the machine. If we continue to indulge the machine view of the world, the design of software systems presents real dangers to the autonomy of the individual and the functioning of our societies. The steadfastness of machine ontologies in the philosophies of software architects risks creating increasing residual causality as hyperconnectivity increases. Shifting the philosophical position of software architects opens up the possibility of discovering new methods that make it easier to avoid these dangers.