One of the things up for grabs in the current news environment is the nature of authority.
It's impossible to be right all the time, but it's much better to be wrong on good authority than otherwise, because if you're wrong on good authority, it's not your fault.
Algorithmic authority is the decision to regard as authoritative an unmanaged process of extracting value from diverse, untrustworthy sources, without any human standing beside the result saying "Trust this because you trust me."
In "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy," Woody Allen shows up at Mia Farrow's window on a flying bicycle and urges her to hop on. "Andrew, we'll get killed," she protests. "Trust me," he replies, "it's me, Andrew." She looks skeptical, and he tries again. "Trust me anyhow."
