What is Economy for Whales?

Rethinking the Automation of Finance with Chimerical Intelligence

2023

In today’s western techno-economic system, artificial agents hold most of the financial agency, and thus shape society’s development. What does it mean? It means that finance distributes capitals in strategic points within the economy to help it flourish faster. If this work used to be done by traders until recently, it is now almost fully automated with algorithms that reproduce the profitable moves, at the speed of light. Some argue that the market’s objectivity and computation’s rationality are what lead to the common’s best interests. But is it?

Algorithmic trading mimics the behaviour of traders in search of profit. The neoliberal school of thoughts argue that the competition of rational agents seeking their individual interest is the healthiest ground for a prosperous economy that serves at best the commons. This vision assumes that individually-minded being is the fundamental brick to construct a thriving ecosystem.