Algorithmic curation

Algorithmic curation is the automated selection and ranking of information by computational systems, from search engines to social media feeds. Unlike human editorial judgment, which operates through explicit reasoning, algorithmic curation embeds its epistemic assumptions in mathematical objectives — click-through rate, dwell time, engagement velocity — that are invisible to both users and often their creators. From the perspective of network epistemics, algorithmic curation is a topology-shaping force that restructures who sees what, and therefore who believes what, without any agent in the network being able to articulate why. The result is a form of institutional blindness that is uniquely dangerous because it lacks an institution to blame.