The Atrophy of Judgement

The teacher who can't give a higher mark to encourage a student, the public service worker who can't help a homeless person who lacks the necessary documents, the football referee whose decision on the pitch is overturned by VAR: imperceptibly, the character of human agency in contemporary societies is changing. In both our professional lives and our leisure time, our decision-making is prescribed in advance and constrained by guidelines and rules, algorithms and apps, down to the smallest details. The role of situational, sensitive consideration and judgement is being replaced by the constellation-based machine logic of execution, and agents of action are being replaced by executors of decisions. While acting requires judgement calls based on experience, taken in the context of complex and often ambiguous situations, execution knows only rules to be followed, benchmarks to be applied and decisions to be implemented – decisions which have already been taken elsewhere, and more and more often by algorithms.

While this development might serve the goals of fairness and transparency, it comes at a high price, because when the scope for discretion disappears and the power of judgement atrophies, the creativity of human action is eliminated from everyday practice and it no longer has a chance to develop. We feel an increased sense of powerlessness, and as our power appears to dwindle, so does our energy to act, contributing to an individual and collective loss of energy in society and giving rise to symptoms of burnout. In response to these developments, Rosa calls for a revival of human judgement and creative capacity in all areas of social life.