Re: <nettime> John Naughton on Shoshana Zuboff: 'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism

[Geoffrey Goodell <goodell@oxonia.net>]

Hi Morlock

Say what you will about 'capitalism' but I'd like to suggest that the use of the term 'capitalism' in this context refers to the unfortunate truth that in recent years capitalism has come to be dominated by surveillance.  Specifically, the success of much of the Western (and perhaps Eastern, too) economy has come to depend upon the success of surveillance platforms.  If you aren't selling a way to manipulate millions of people cheaply, then you aren't selling much.  In the zero-sum world of human power and control, the wealthy want for nothing but the ability to manipulate and subdue the masses, preferably without creating civil unrest.  So it stands to reason that their money, and therefore capitalism itself, will build that mechanism to the fullest extent permitted by law, and until something changes, it is all legal.

Geoff


On 25 January 2019 18:39:17 GMT, Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@gmail.com> wrote:
>Right. Involving 'capitalism' into this is total bs., even an 
>intentional sabotage - to make it look inevitable (as no one can
>imagine 
>alternative for capitalism, surveillance must also be inevitable.)
>
>Motherf*ckers. So many vacuous words just to avoid mentioning 
>possibility of simple legislation within existing legal frameworks.
>
>
>
>On 1/25/19, 10:09, carlo von lynX wrote:
>> Stop using leftist terminology (which makes Christian Democrats
>> and other peeps stop paying attention). What we are facing is a
>> facet of totalitarianism. Surveillance totalitarianism. We just
>> don't know who's going to be the big dictator at the end
>> (presuming that ten years into this game it isn't all sorted
>> out yet), and maybe we will never be told.
>
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