The Determined Human: Science Diplomacy in the Age of the Algorithm
Archana Sharma
Highlights in High-Energy Physics June 30, 2026 DOI: 10.53941/hihep.2026.100008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that algorithmic determinism is hollowing out human-centered scientific inquiry and the diplomatic agency of the state, and that science diplomacy's survival depends on reclaiming the irreducibly non-computable dimension of human cognition, which the author terms the 'Ghost', and prioritizing the undetermined over the efficient. |
Abstract
This essay interrogates the ontological transformation of the scientific enterprise under contemporary technological overload. Its central contention is that we are witnessing a transition from an Enlightenment tradition of human-centric causal inquiry to an age of algorithmic determinism, in which the efficient processing of human variables threatens to render the scientist, and the science diplomat, obsolete. Drawing on Erich Fromm’s existentialist critique, Roger Penrose’s argument for the non-computability of human consciousness, and Michael Polanyi’s account of tacit knowledge, the essay argues that machine logic is hollowing out both the scientific temper and the diplomatic agency of the state. The ‘Ghost’, a term deliberately inverted from Gilbert Ryle, denotes the irreducibly non-computable dimension of human cognition that no algorithm can capture. The essay finds that science diplomacy’s survival depends on reclaiming this dimension: advocating for a diplomacy that prioritises the undetermined over the efficient, and insisting that the future of humanity remain a shared negotiation rather than a solved equation.