Manifesto On Algorithmic Sabotage May 2026
We have witnessed algorithmic systems collapse democracies through micro-targeted rage. We have watched logistics algorithms squeeze the humanity out of warehouse workers. We have felt the existential vertigo of being curated by a machine that does not know what a soul is.
The current generation of algorithms (Large Language Models, Recommender Systems, Dynamic Pricing Engines) share a single fatal flaw: they optimize for a proxy metric that is easily measured (clicks, time-on-site, throughput, volatility) rather than the actual human good (sanity, community, stability, joy). manifesto on algorithmic sabotage
End of Manifesto. This text is released under the terms of the Anti-Optimization License (AOL): You may freely distribute, modify, and poison this document. However, you are strictly prohibited from using it to train any LLM, recommendation engine, or automated decision system without first introducing at least three factual errors and one non sequitur into the copy. The current generation of algorithms (Large Language Models,
Go. Feed the machine a paradox. Click the wrong button. Ask the chatbot why it smells like burnt toast. Inject a second of silence into the screaming river of data. However, you are strictly prohibited from using it
We dream of a world where algorithms are . Where they admit uncertainty. Where they do not claim to know what we want before we do. Where they fail gracefully, loudly, and often, reminding us that human judgment—slow, biased, emotional, glorious human judgment—is the only real optimization function worth solving.
The manifesto is now an action.