The Impact of Technology on Ranking and Classification in Society

14min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

This chapter explores how technology has revolutionized the ranking and categorization of individuals in society, from credit scores to personalized ads, raising questions about convenience versus individuality in the digital age. It discusses the evolution of ranking processes over the last 50 years, the history of computing, and how machines mimic human behavior in classification. The conversation also highlights the challenges of accurately collecting social data and the diversity in categorization methods despite the underlying reality being the same.

We claim to love all of our children, friends, and students equally. But perhaps deep down you assign a ranking to them, from favorite to not-so-favorite. Ranking and quantifying people is an irresistible human tendency, and modern technology has made it ubiquitous. In this episode I talk with sociologist Kieran Healy, who has co-authored (with Marion Fourcade) the new book The Ordinal Society, about how our lives are measured and processed by the technological ecosystem around us. We discuss how this has changed how relate to ourselves and the wider world.

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/06/10/278-kieran-healy-on-the-technology-of-ranking-people/

Kieran Healy received his Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University. He is currently a professor of sociology at Duke University, and a member of the Kenan Institute for Ethics. As an undergraduate at University College Cork he won the Irish Times National Debating competition. He has a longstanding interest in data visualization.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.