is Professor of Sociology at Bielefeld University and the University of Bologna. A leading figure in sociological systems theory, she has published extensively on the theory of society, media theory, memory theory and the sociology of financial markets. Her current research on algorithmic prediction is supported by a five-year Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. Her latest book Artificial Communication: How Algorithms Produce Social Intelligence will be published in 2021 by MIT Press.
The paper uses the tools of second-order cybernetics (theory of the observation of observations) in order to examine the implicit ontology of first-order cybernetics, i.e. of informatics. The starting point is the distinction of operations and observations, which is used to show that computers are machines operating without the capability to observe, but have the task to process observations. This requires a highly complex structure of distinctions and observations, based upon the possibility to program the lack of programs. The progress of informatic programming and the extension to telematics impose today a very refined (although often unconscious) articulation of observation levels: this is shown using the example of object-oriented programming (OOP).
Esposito E. (2017) Artificial communication? The production of contingency by algorithms. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 46(4): 249–65. https://cepa.info/7142
Discourse about smart algorithms and digital social agents still refers primarily to the construction of artificial intelligence that reproduces the faculties of individuals. Recent developments, however, show that algorithms are more efficient when they abandon this goal and try instead to reproduce the ability to communicate. Algorithms that do not “think” like people can affect the ability to obtain and process information in society. Referring to the concept of communication in Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, this paper critically reconstructs the debate on the computational turn of big data as the artificial reproduction not of intelligence but of communication. Self-learning algorithms parasitically take advantage – be it consciously or unaware – of the contribution of web users to a “virtual double contingency.” This provides society with information that is not part of the thoughts of anyone, but, nevertheless, enters the communication circuit and raises its complexity. The concept of communication should be reconsidered to take account of these developments, including (or not) the possibility of communicating with algorithms.
Esposito E. (2021) Author’s Response: Opacity and Complexity of Learning Black Boxes. Constructivist Foundations 16(3): 377–380. https://cepa.info/7187
Abstract: Non-transparent machine learning algorithms can be described as non-trivial machines that do not have to be understood, but controlled as communication partners. From the perspective of sociological systems theory, the normative component of control should be addressed with a critical attitude, observing what is normal as improbable.
Esposito E., Sold K. & Zimmermann B. (2021) Systems Theory and Algorithmic Futures: Interview with Elena Esposito. Constructivist Foundations 16(3): 356–361. https://cepa.info/7180
Abstract: By introducing us into core concepts of Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, Elena Esposito shows their relevance for contemporary social sciences and the study of unsettled times. Contending that society is made not by people but by what connects them - as Luhmann does with his concept of communication - creates a fertile ground for addressing societal challenges as diverse as the Corona pandemic or the algorithmic revolution. Esposito more broadly sees in systems theory a relevant contribution to critical theory and a genuine alternative to its Frankfurt School version, while extending its reach to further conceptual refinement and new empirical issues. Fueling such refinement is her analysis of time and the complex intertwinement between past, present and future - a core issue that runs throughout her work. Her current study on the future as a prediction caught between science and divination offers a fascinating empirical case for it, drawing a thought-provoking parallel between the way algorithmic predictions are constructed today and how divinatory predictions were constructed in ancient times. Keywords: Algorithms, communication, critical theory, future, heterarchy, Luhmann, paradox, prediction, semantics, sociology, subsystems, systems theory, time.