Oguz, Hasan (2025) Authoritarian Recursions: How Fiction, History, and AI Reinforce Control in Education, Warfare, and Discourse. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This article develops the concept of authoritarian recursion to theorize how artificial intelligence (AI) systems consolidate institutional control across education, military operations, and digital discourse. Rather than treating these domains in isolation, it identifies a shared recursive architecture in which algorithmic systems mediate judgment, obscure accountability, and reshape the conditions of moral and epistemic agency.

Grounded in critical discourse analysis and sociotechnical ethics, the paper synthesizes historical precedent, cultural narrative, and contemporary deployment to examine how intelligent systems normalize hierarchy under the guise of efficiency and neutrality. Case studies include automated proctoring in education, autonomous targeting in warfare, and algorithmic curation on social platforms. Cultural imaginaries such as Orwell's *Nineteen Eighty-Four*, *The Terminator*'s Skynet, and *Black Mirror* are treated as heuristic devices that illuminate public anxieties and design assumptions embedded in technological systems.

The analysis integrates frameworks from the Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) paradigm, relational ethics, and data justice theory to explore the normative implications of predictive infrastructures. It argues that recursive control operates through moral outsourcing, behavioral normalization, and epistemic closure. By reframing AI not as a neutral tool but as a communicative and institutional infrastructure, the article highlights the need for ethical orientations that prioritize democratic refusal, epistemic plurality, and responsible design in the governance of intelligent systems.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Oguz, Hasan hoguz17@posta.pau.edu.tr 0000-0001-7484-4415
Additional Information:	19 page, 1 figure and 1 table asubmitted to AI and Ethics.
Keywords:	authoritarian recursion, algorithmic governance, recursive control, predictive infrastructures, sociotechnical ethics, platform power, educational surveillance, autonomous weapons, content moderation, critical discourse analysis, data justice, relational responsibility, infrastructural opacity, epistemic closure, democratic refusal
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence
Depositing User:	Dr. Hasan Oguz
Date Deposited:	08 Jun 2025 13:08
Last Modified:	08 Jun 2025 13:08
Item ID:	25626
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence
Date:	16 May 2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25626

Available Versions of this Item

• Educating the Machine: Ethical Imperatives for AI in Military and Educational Systems Through Historical and Fictional Lenses. (deposited 09 Apr 2025 14:40)

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