§ 7. Grounds of Validity of Algorithmic Order

This page is the English companion to the German section § 7. Grounds of Validity of Algorithmic Order. It now follows the German Round 3 argument in condensed form while preserving the German page as the leading working text.

The paragraph asks why algorithmic orders are obeyed. Validity may rest on habituation, belief in computational objectivity, formal enactment, demonstrated success, or practical inevitability. None of these grounds proves legitimacy by itself; each describes a social chance that people will orient their conduct toward a given order.

The German text links these grounds to Weber's theory of legitimate order, to Kitchin's understanding of algorithms as embedded practice, to Noble's critique of search and inequality, and to Pasquale's account of secrecy and black-box power (literature).

The paragraph prepares § 8. Where algorithmic order is followed because it is unavoidable rather than convincing, validity turns into a field of struggle.