Cheaper machine attention is displacing human judgment in evaluation.

Evidence

In most spheres, mechanized – electrified, digitalized – attention is tending to substitute for human attention, essentially because of cost: everything is set to push us from rating to ranking. Putting a list of publications through a programme to find a factor H (the ‘impact’ factor measuring the number of times an article has been cited by another article) or counting the citations on Web of Science (a private company which maps out scientific publications by formatting them for bibliometric analysis) requires less attention (and so fewer resources) than finding a colleague inclined to read it and discuss the contents. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 231

Categorization

• XREF: The cost-driven substitution of machine for human attention echoes the Frankfurt thesis that instrumental reason subordinates ends to efficiency. — connects to: Attention is a filtering mechanism that shapes decision-making — Thomas Davenport & John Beck, The Attention Economy: Understanding…, 12; Big data and AI outperform human judgment in high-stakes decisions. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1171; People reduce decisions to one value without realizing they have done so
• SEED: Angle: impact-factor metrics as a case study of how cost optimization routed human scholarly judgment through machines.

Broader Connections

• Attention is a filtering mechanism that shapes decision-making #expands (0.80) — Thomas Davenport & John Beck, The Attention Economy, 12
• Big data and AI outperform human judgment in high-stakes decisions. #corroborates (0.80) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1171
• People reduce decisions to one value without realizing they have done so #expands (0.72)