Article // ALGORITHMIC SUBJECTS, PARANOID SUBJECTIVITIES: data capitalism, influence, (in)dividualities

In June 2019, the article “ALGORITHMIC SUBJECTS, PARANOID SUBJECTIVITIES: data capitalism, influence, (in)dividualities” written by Paulo Faltay was published in the annals of the Annual Meeting of Compós (National Association of Graduate Programs in Communication).

Abstract: Recent episodes have led the question of personal digital data use in human behavior influencing strategies to the core of the techno-political debate. This paper discusses the connection between areas of psychology and communication in the context of systemic paranoia (DUNKER, 2018) present in data capitalism’s modes of subjectivation. On the one hand, a closer look at the fundaments of influencing tools shows that their premises and effectiveness are largely questionable. On the other, these cases expose how institutional and commercial agents compete for our political and subjective orientation through automated collection and analysis of digital data. To what extent is paranoid subjectivity the fruit of mystification, marketing and alarmism? How much does it reveal about the practices and the imaginaries involving a psychic economy of algorithms (BRUNO, 2018), the construction of identities through these mediations and the very workings of these tools?

Keywords: Algorithms; Paranoia; Data capitalism.

The full article in Portuguese is available at: https://medialabufrj.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/trabalhos_arquivo_1MKDTKBNPAOJUZIR60I1_28_7880_22_02_2019_13_42_16.pdf