computabitis

Computabitis is a term used in technology discourse and speculative fiction to describe a hypothetical condition characterized by an overwhelming reliance on computation and data to guide decision making, often at the expense of qualitative judgment, ethical considerations, or human factors. The term is not a medical diagnosis but a metaphorical label used to critique algorithm-centric cultures and practices.

Etymology and usage. The word blends comput- (from compute) with -itis, borrowing the medical suffix to signal a chronic, systemic tendency. It has appeared in blog posts, podcast discussions, and science fiction to provoke reflection on the limits of data-driven approaches.

Symptoms and manifestations.

- Excessive data gathering and metrics obsession

- Analysis paralysis where teams stall awaiting the perfect model

- Overreliance on algorithms for decisions that involve values, ethics, or context

- Neglect of qualitative insight and stakeholder diversity

Causes and diagnosis. Causes include information overload, dashboard-driven workflows, incentive structures rewarding model performance, and cognitive bias toward quantifiable results. There is no clinical test; diagnosis is rhetorical, assessed through patterns in decision making and project culture.

Treatment and management. Mitigation strategies emphasize human-centered design, principled ethics reviews, mixed-method evaluation, explainable models, and governance to balance data with context and intuition.

In culture. In fiction and media, computabitis is often used to explore tensions between automation and agency, or to illustrate the pitfalls of data-first societies. See also: analysis paralysis, information overload, model risk management.