Abstract：Anchoring in risk society theory and drawing on Lewis Mumford’s concept of the“megamachine,”this paper reinterprets the notion for the digital era and uses“the algorithmic megamachine”to denote a socio-technical apparatus formed through the heterogeneous coupling of algorithms,platformized data infrastructures,and capital logics. The paper argues that the ethical problems of“algorithmic megamachine”are not incidental failures of particular applications but structural risks endogenous to the systemic intertwining of data infrastructures,automated processes,and capital-driven optimization,which can accumulate into persistent governance dilemmas. From micro to macro levels,the paper maps four cascading risk landscapes:①informational entanglement driven by feedback loops,leading to the cession of agency;②interface-mediated visibility discipline that produces algorithmic amplification and fragments public reasoning;③gatekeeping shifts under multi-agent coupling that diffuse responsibility and hinder accountability;and④panoptic surveillance shaped by a capital-data complex,resulting in social lock-in effects. Normatively grounded in autonomy,procedural justice,and the public good,this paper proposes governance pathways including reconstructing information diversity,independent algorithmic audits,and structural corrections of market competition to enhance the self-correcting capacity of digital society.
李京珂, 丛杭青. 算法巨机器的伦理风险:风险社会视角下的多层机制与治理困境[J]. 中国科技论坛, 2026(5): 164-171.
Li Jingke, Cong Hangqing. Ethical Risks of the Algorithmic Megamachine:Multi-level Mechanisms and Governance Dilemmas from a Risk-Society Perspective. , 2026(5): 164-171.
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