As the system becomes more complex with layers of algorithms and feedback loops, it can start to feel like a black box to ordinary users, reducing transparency and trust.
The problem is not only secrecy. Even when code is technically “open,” complexity can make it effectively unreadable, turning public oversight into a kind of performative ritual where people are told they *could* understand it, but realistically cannot.
When a governance system feels like a black box, users stop believing outcomes are fair, even if the system is honest. They assume hidden levers exist, that insiders can game it, or that strange edge cases are quietly deciding their fate. This is how legitimacy erodes: not through a single scandal, but through a slow drip of confusion, suspicion, and disengagement.
The Black Box Dilemma is therefore a design constraint, not a PR issue. If the system cannot be explained in plain language, and if ordinary participants cannot form accurate mental models of how decisions happen, then Transparency becomes cosmetic and trust becomes fragile.
This dilemma links directly to Literate Transparency, which treats explainability as a first-class requirement rather than an optional add-on.