Algorithms and the Aesthetics of Wandering: Paradoxes of Perfectionism

This paper exposes how excessive reliance on either “efficiency-based algorithms,” which aim at rapid and accurate problem-solving, or highly addictive “randomized engagement- oriented algorithms,” which continuously distract individuals from being immersed in the present, induces a high level of conformity and thereby renders genuine wandering impos- sible, hindering human maturation. This paper names the current tendency that eliminates negativity—such as failure, pain, the capacity to resist uncertainty and stimulation—and enforces only positivity—such as achievement, pleasure, stability, and the immediate sat- isfaction of stimulation—as “achievement perfectionism.” On the basis of Byung-Chul Han’s critique, who diagnoses such a society as The Palliative Society, this paper reveals that wandering accompanied by negativity and resistance to conformity is indispensable for human maturation. As a counter-concept to The Palliative Society and “achievement perfectionism,” the paper turns to Stanley Cavell’s (Cities of words, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2004) notion of “moral perfectionism,” which leads to “an unattained but attainable self” who can embrace negativity and explore the “rejected and underval- ued” paths with conformity’s aversion and openness. Finally, this paper, on the basis of Jan Masschelein’s (2010) poor pedagogy, focuses on the “attentive wandering” in which “moral perfectionism” can be educationally realized. Furthermore, this paper proposes an “educating of the gaze” through which individuals in the digital age, as “digital flaneurs,” can internalize the practice of genuine wandering that pays attention—thinking about what to see and how to respond to it—not only through the experience of bodily wandering by walking, but also by breaking away from the “pseudo-wandering” within algorithms.