The era of surveillance capitalism

Overview of the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - Shoshana Zuboff: The challenges imposed by the digital future on humanity, and the first detailed study of the unprecedented form of power called "Surveillance Capitalism," and the efforts of powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior. In this remarkable work of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff offers astonishing insights into the phenomenon she calls "Surveillance Capitalism." The risks could not be greater: a global structure for behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century, just as industrial capitalism distorted the natural world in the twentieth century. Zuboff clearly illustrates the consequences as Surveillance Capitalism expands from Silicon Valley to all economic sectors. Huge wealth and immense influence accumulate in new "behavioral futures markets" ominously, where predictions related to our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subjected to a "new means of behavior modification." The threat has shifted from the totalitarian "Big Brother" state to an all-encompassing digital structure: the "Big Other" working in favor of surveillance capital. Here lies an unprecedented power vortex, characterized by enormous concentrations of knowledge, liberated from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and impactful analysis reveals the threats facing twenty-first-century society: a controlled "cell" of complete connectivity, seducing with promises of absolute certainty to maximize profit, at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future.