"Decisions Nobody Made” is about the way in which identifiable human beings aren’t accountable in the way they used to be,
because a rising proportion of our society is run by systems rather than people.

Algorithms and artificial intelligences in the literal sense of computer programs are part of the story,
but it’s mainly about corporations and governments,
systems made up of people; collective intelligences.

“Cybernetics” is the general science of control systems, and it’s got a very weird and quirky history.

Part of that history is that one of the key texts of management cybernetics is
“Brain of the Firm” by Stafford Beer,
which is one of Brian Eno’s favourite books
(and was also highly rated by David Bowie).

It was one of the big influences on ambient music;
Eno wrote an entire essay about the use of cybernetic techniques in art.

What I’m hoping to do is close that circle, taking some of those ideas about fitting small units of insight and creativity into coherent larger structures and bringing them back to the original study of control and governance in the modern industrial society.

netinterest.co/p/decisions-nob…