When speaking of sequences, “arithmetic” is the opposite of geometric , meaning the sequence scales in terms of a common difference rather than a ratio. The word also carries an implication of human-scale mathematical operation: addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. In this document, I contrast “arithmetic” (pronounced with stress on the penultimate syllable) with algorithmic via extended metaphor, not the literal meaning of the terms. Indeed, arithmetic progressions rely on an algorithm.
“The internet today feels like a giant pile of junk, with Google and algorithms representing an approach of brute force mass sifting. Every document is unmarked and equally valueless. Its all just treated as endless garbage. Disciplines like the humanities, whose mission is organization of knowledge into unified systems like the encyclopedia, ceded the internet to tech.” - A library scientist on the internet
| Algorithmic | Arithmetic |
|---|---|
| Relies on mass-input of buy/sell data; at-scale; exponential, predicated on infinite growth; information without knowledge; may be “black box”, unknown output based on known input; spectral; stochastic; undignified machines; humans oriented toward machine ends; organs; answer-oriented; SEO; objectification; force (c.f. Weil); scattershot; beyond control; mind-altering; predictive; technē; oracular; insular, individuated; uncomprehending; arborescentl | Information organized into knowledge; non- exponential; de-scaled; understanding; serendipity; wisdom; personal; human-oriented metadata and text encoding; a hand-made index; humane information ecology; dignified machines; fine-grained inquiries; singlemindedness; question-oriented; controlled; tools; machines oriented toward human ends; estimated; word-of-mouth; aretḗ; mêtis; pro-social; rhizomatic |
| AI-based search engines (Google, WolframAlpha) | Encyclopedias (incl. Wikipedia); asking around; library visits & reference desk inquiries; topic maps; more fine- grained searches, e.g. using “ ” or “in:” in searches; less intrusive algorithmic search engines like DuckDuckGo when needed; bibliographies Recommendation engines (Spotify recommended shuffle, “for you” pages, Pinterest; “suggestion” bars) |
| Major grocery stores (which use algorithms to manage stock and arrange goods) | Smaller grocers/corner stores; co-ops and markets; growing food in community |
| Cartographic algorithms & location indexers (Google/Apple maps); following suggested route | OpenStreetMap; paper maps; learning the city; asking for directions/recommendations; dérives (c.f. Debord) |
| Investing; compound interest; usury | Sharing; giving freely; charging no interest |
Illich, ABC: Alphabetization of the Popular Mind (similar idea); Alexander Galloway; Clark, Designing an Internet (how we got here); Bowker & Star, Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences (what library science has to do with all this); McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy (how we got here); Leibniz (world-knowledge); Swartz, “A Programmable Web” (read critically); Jacques Ellul (critiques of technē), Gadamer (horizons of understanding & inquiry)
What are my dependencies on machines?
On algorithms?
What algorithms am I subject to, economically,
politically, socially?
Can I trace their origin?
How can I use machines for recreation without creating a transaction?
How can I use machines in a healthy, pro-social way?
What is the role of the unconscious in algorithms?
Who knows me better, myself or the machines I use?
What scale do my machines operate at?
Does my use of machines rely on exponential or geometric scaling?
Can I explain how my machines work?
Can my machines explain how I work?
Would I be able to accomplish my daily tasks without machines?
If not, can I explain why I need the machines?
Could I find myself on a map right now?
From where would I be able to give directions to where I am right now?
What domains of knowledge am I versed in?
Do I share that knowledge with others?
What chains of knowledge do I participate in?
How do I know where I’m going? Where I’ve been?
How do I know what social gatherings I can attend?
How do I know what’s going on in my neighborhood?
In my city? In my country? In the world?
How do I find people who share my interests?
Who or what do I ask for advice?
Who or what gives me recommendations?
Why is this arranged like that? Who put this here?
Do I know the contact info of my friends? My family?
Do I have a library card?
Do I know why my library is organized the way it is?
Do I know what information a library can help me find?
Do I buy information from publishers?
Who are those publishers?
What costs money?
When something is free, why is it free?
What am I giving up to receive something freely?
Am I being bought or sold?
Can I read for a sustained period of time? Why not?
Who or what has my attention? Who has purchased it?
Who or what deserves my attention?
What are means? What are ends?
Are we responsible for our thoughts?
What thoughts come from others?
When we allow others’ thoughts into our mind do they become part of us?
What is information?
What is knowledge?
What are questions?
How do I ask questions? To whom or to what?
What questions can be asked?
What questions should be asked?
What is the purpose of my questions?
Where do I find answers to my questions?
How do I make knowledge from information?
Whose question am I really getting an answer to?
Mine or a machine’s?
Who gets to know what questions I ask?
How do we arrange information?
How do we arrange knowledge?
What is the relationship between tables, indices, spreadsheets, and maps?
Do the people whose machines and machine-input I use have virtue or wisdom?
Where can I seek people with virtue and wisdom?
Who has information about me?
Do they have my best interest in mind?
Does my machine-use serve self-seeking ends?
Who has a right to know? Who has a right to tell?
Am I reducing a question to a means?
What are the maps of information do I have inside me?
How do I rely on answers over estimation and intuition?
Do I treat my machines as oracles?
Where do I put my trust?
How do I relate pieces of information to each other?
How have machines and algorithms shaped my thinking?
My seeing? My eating? My physical location? My movement?
Am I engaging in intellectual avarice? Informational avarice?
What predictions do I rely on?
Who makes them? To what end?
What systems do those predictions rely on?
Do I make use of serendipity in my knowledge-seeking?
Have I reduced art, knowledge, wisdom, and humor to shadows of themselves?
Do I know why the art, knowledge, wisdom, and humor before me have been presented to me?
Whose machine am I using?
Who made my machines?
What is the maker of my machine’s relationship to me?
To my use of the machine?
What do we owe our creations? What dignity do they deserve?
How can I share the information I find?
BACK TO HOME