Moriarty-Cole, C 
ORCID: 0009-0002-4639-7907
(2025)
'Poetics of machinic opacity: Glissant and Bayes.'
Computational Culture, 10.
Abstract
This article explores the concept of opacity, examining its multifaceted roles in conditioning knowledge and cultural existence. It begins by addressing technical opacity in machine learning, and the Bayesian techniques used to quantify uncertainty. While these methods can reduce opacity technically, they fail to address the broader, structural “machinic opacity” that emerges from the interaction of computational reason with social processes at scale. This machinic opacity represents a phenomenological dimension beyond human cognitive and experiential grasp, compounded by the complexity of large-scale machine ecologies. The article then transitions to a cultural critique, drawing on Édouard Glissant’s pluralist concept of opacity and his poetics of Relation. Glissant's framework offers an affirmative response to the alienating potential of machinic opacity, advocating for the “right to opacity” as a means to preserve ontological diversity and foster cultural creation. By juxtaposing Glissant’s ideas with Bayesian epistemology, the article argues for a nonreductive approach to understanding machinic opacity, emphasising the generative role of nonknowledge in cultural processes. Ultimately, the article proposes that embracing machinic opacity through Glissant’s poetics of Relation opens space for a cultural response to the challenges posed by computational technologies and machinic opacity. This approach not only counters the colonial logic of transparency but also highlights the creative potential inherent in the interplay between human and machinic processes despite their mutual opacity. The article concludes by advocating for a cultural poetics that recognises and utilises the productive tensions between technical and cultural opacities, fostering a deeper engagement with the complexities of contemporary computational culture.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Note: | The article is available to read at the link above. |
| UN SDGs: | Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure |
| Keywords: | AI, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Bayes, Bayesian, computation, culture, Édouard Glissant, decolonial, post-colonial, ontology, poetics |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BD Speculative Philosophy T Technology > T Technology (General) |
| Divisions: | Bath School of Art, Film and Media |
| Research Centres and Groups: | Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries (CCCI) |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Oct 2025 16:56 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Oct 2025 16:56 |
| ISSN: | 2047-2390 |
| URN: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17308 |
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