The Algorithmic Self in Relation to Existential Psychotherapy and Schizoanalysis
The algorithmic self, as described by Anthony Elliott, challenges traditional notions of subjectivity, freedom, and desire. When examined through existential psychotherapy and schizoanalysis (Deleuze & Guattari), it raises profound questions about authentic existence, alienation, and machinic flows of desire.
1. Existential Psychotherapy: The Algorithmic Self and the Question of Authenticity
Existential psychotherapy, rooted in thinkers like Rollo May, Viktor Frankl, and Irvin Yalom, focuses on authenticity, freedom, responsibility, and meaning-making. The algorithmic self disrupts these core principles.
A. The Illusion of Freedom: Algorithmic Determinism vs. Existential Choice
• Existential therapy emphasizes radical freedom (Sartre’s notion that we are condemned to be free).
• The algorithmic self undermines this by shaping choices in subtle, predictive ways, preempting desires before they are even consciously formulated.
• Instead of choosing freely, individuals often mistake algorithmic nudges for personal decisions (e.g., “I chose this movie” vs. “Netflix recommended it based on my past viewing”).
Existential question: If our desires and choices are preprogrammed by data-driven models, are we still capable of authentic existence?
B. Alienation and the Loss of Existential Depth
• Existentialists argue that selfhood is not given but created through lived experience, struggle, and responsibility.
• The algorithmic self bypasses struggle by offering instantaneous self-optimization and identity curation (social media personas, recommendation engines, digital self-tracking).
• This leads to existential alienation—a state where one no longer feels ownership over their own being but instead performs identity according to algorithmic incentives.
Example:
Instead of asking “Who am I?”, people ask, “What does my algorithmic profile say I am?”
C. Anxiety and Death in a Datafied World
• Existential psychotherapy deals with death anxiety and the search for meaning in a finite existence.
• The algorithmic self, by quantifying and optimizing every aspect of life, fosters a new kind of anxiety:
• The fear of being invisible to algorithms (e.g., low engagement on social media = existential irrelevance).
• The obsession with digital legacy (curating a perfect online persona that outlives one’s physical self).
• Data-driven immortality (AI avatars that continue after death) raises existential dilemmas: Does life have meaning if it can be endlessly simulated and reproduced?
Existential Therapy’s Response to the Algorithmic Self
• Reclaiming authentic choice → Recognizing and resisting algorithmic nudges.
• Developing a self beyond data → Engaging in embodied, non-digital experiences.
• Embracing finitude → Understanding that life’s meaning comes from lived moments, not digital preservation.
2. Schizoanalysis: The Algorithmic Self as a Desiring-Machine
Schizoanalysis, developed by Deleuze & Guattari (Anti-Oedipus, A Thousand Plateaus), offers a radically different perspective. Instead of lamenting the loss of humanist subjectivity, it celebrates the algorithmic self as an intensification of machinic desire.
A. From Oedipal Subject to Algorithmic Assemblage
• Traditional psychoanalysis (Freud/Lacan) sees the self as structured by the Oedipal triangle (family, repression, symbolic order).
• Schizoanalysis rejects the Oedipal model and instead proposes the desiring-machine:
• The self is not a unified entity but an assemblage of flows, intensities, and connections.
• Desire is not lack (as in Lacan) but production—an endless process of coupling and decoupling with other machines (social, economic, digital).
• The algorithmic self is a new type of machinic assemblage, constantly connected to data flows, AI feedback loops, and surveillance systems.
B. Capitalism, Algorithms, and the Control Society
• Deleuze, in Postscript on the Societies of Control, argues that modern capitalism no longer relies on disciplinary institutions (Foucault) but on modulation and control.
• Algorithms do not repress desire; they decode, recode, and accelerate it to fit the flows of late capitalism.
• Example:
• Traditional psychoanalysis: “Why do I desire this?”
• Algorithmic capitalism: “You desire this because we have already determined you will.”
C. Escaping Algorithmic Capture: New Lines of Flight
• Schizoanalysis would not resist the algorithmic self in an existentialist way (return to authenticity) but would instead seek lines of flight—new ways to subvert and deterritorialize digital control.
• Instead of rejecting digital capitalism, one could hack it, misuse it, or create new connections beyond profit-driven AI.
Potential schizoanalytic tactics:
• Glitch as resistance → Breaking predictive loops through randomness, erratic behaviors, or disruptive engagements.
• Becoming-imperceptible → Learning to evade surveillance capitalism by becoming less readable to algorithms.
• Nomadic existence → Living in a way that is untraceable, refusing static identity categories imposed by data capitalism.
Existential Psychotherapy vs. Schizoanalysis on the Algorithmic Self
|
Framework |
View on Algorithmic Self |
Response |
|
Existential Therapy |
A threat to authenticity and self-determination |
Reclaim freedom, resist digital determinism, embrace finitude |
|
Schizoanalysis |
A new machinic assemblage within capitalist flows |
Subvert, misuse, or escape algorithmic capture through deterritorialization |
Final Thought: What Comes Next?
• Existential psychotherapy fights for the last remnants of human freedom.
• Schizoanalysis sees the end of the human as an opportunity for new forms of becoming.
The key question is:
Should we try to preserve human subjectivity in an algorithmic world (existential approach), or should we embrace a posthuman flow of deterritorialized identities (schizoanalytic approach)?
Would you like to explore this in relation to AI and posthuman ethics?
