Article:

Daten, Wahn, Sinn

The transition from mass media to social media has led to a discussion about a «decline of symbolic efficiency» (Jodi Dean) in recent years. However, the question remains open as to whether this is an irreversible decline, or a necessary accompaniment to the constitution of a new symbolic order. Today, information is filtered out of an ever-increasing data stream, whereby the algorithms required for this remain largely hidden. Based on a psychoanalytically-informed media theory, this article will investigate the mechanism of algorithmic inclusion and exclusion, which is central to data filtering, in order to ask about the meaning behind our current «high-tech paranoia» (Fredric Jameson).