Beyond Error: Philosophy of Indeterminacy in the Age of Algorithms

Abstract

The paper exposes the transition from a mechanistic worldview in which error is conceptualized as the situation where expected causalities are not met, to a post-mechanistic scenario prevailing since the start of the twentieth century, where indeterminacy instead is the predominant feature of an intrinsically chaotic world. In this scenario, Shannon’s Information Theory reconceptualized entropy as presence that needs to be capitalized and current algorithmic culture exponentially expands in an all-encompassing thrust to preempt novelty. I propose the inverse turn by promoting the idea that a sustainable social ecosystem needs to sustain high levels of indeterminacy as its measure of openness and capacity for non-violent reconfiguration. I further expose my own artistic practices dealing with reconceptualizations and experiential techniques of movement, perception and the body which elaborate a positive account of sustained or consistent indeterminacy.