The Politics of Truth and its Transformations in Neoliberalism: the Subject Supposed to Know in Algorithmic Times

Abstract

The development of technologies for public segmentation and selected distribution of information added new possibilities to the old art of persuasion. These technologies not only achieve an unthought-of level of individualization of information in mass media history but also can give the most acceptable cluster of information to each individual or group of individuals at a time. These technologies can be said to constitute a new kind of power, where the production of truth in algorithmic times engages thus the conduction of subjects and groups in an unprecedented close way. To try to isolate and to understand the effectiveness of these algorithmic tools, I explore Michel Foucault’s thoughts on power modalities. To conclude these reflections, I underline the renewed interest of thinking power dynamics based on a conception of language as an element that precedes the subjects. That puts the critical approach of social alienation on a different ground from rhetoric and persuasion, and closer to an analysis of the ontological effects of discourse.