How Algorithms Undermine Consciousness

Guest Introduction

As algorithms rise to play larger roles in how we interact with the world, how are they recursively acting upon us to play larger roles in how we experience ourselves? What, in short, does an algorithmic society do to consciousness?

Eran Fisher is a professor of sociology at the Open University of Israel, and has a recent book out titled: Algorithms and Subjectivity: On the Subversion of Critical Knowledge. In it, he digs beneath the more obvious conversation around how algorithms are changing our worlds, to ask how they're changing our-selves.

In the conversation, we discuss:

How do algorithms change the promise of freedom society offers?
What does it mean for algorithms to "undermine" subjectivity?
How do algorithms pose different threats to freedom than mass media of the 20th century?
How much of the threat of algorithms derives from their for-profit deployment in a world with insufficient mechanisms for democratic data governance?

Plus tangents into psychedelics, the politics of subjectivity, and all that sort of good stuff.

Enjoy!

Key Discussion Topics

Freedom and Choice

Fisher contrasts traditional enlightenment conceptions of freedom (involving self-transformation and ethical deliberation) with algorithmic freedom, which promises liberation from the burden of choosing between right and wrong.

Subjectivity as Dynamic Project

Rather than treating consciousness as a static property, Fisher frames subjectivity as a historical endeavor emerging from modernity—an ongoing process of self-awareness and potential transformation, not a fixed entity awaiting discovery.

Critical Knowledge

This refers to knowledge where subjects participate in their own understanding. Fisher uses psychoanalysis as an example: "insight requires the person themselves reaching conclusions rather than being told answers."

Algorithmic vs. Mass Media Threats

Unlike 20th-century mass media that addressed audiences as demographic categories (allowing political resistance), algorithms operate in what Fisher calls "post-demographic space"—fragmenting audiences into thousands of micro-segments invisible to users.

Governance and Resistance

The discussion examines whether algorithmic harm stems from capitalism's profit motives or technology itself. Fisher suggests both matter, noting that even under different ownership structures, the epistemological challenge remains: algorithms operate in "digital language" humans cannot meaningfully engage with or critique.

User resistance tactics—like deliberately rating Netflix films to manipulate recommendations—may ultimately reinforce algorithmic systems rather than liberate from them.