Book of Review of "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism"

    


    Author with her immaculate background with Harvard and combination of Philosophy and Sociology education brings out unique perspectives about new kind of capitalism, Surveillance Capitalism. Technology companies have created huge impact on human lives in last 100 years. The Big Tech companies impact everyday life in more and more ways in our everyday life. Author brings out unique concepts like "Behavioral Surplus" and "Instrumenterian Power" to mae her point. The strong theoretical basis is brought by bringing out original ideas of Max Weber, Karl Marx and Emily Drukheim.

    First, a brief description of surveillance capitalism. It “unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data. Although some of these data are applied to product or service improvement, the rest are declared as a proprietary behavioral surplus, fed into advanced manufacturing processes known as ‘machine intelligence,’ and fabricated into prediction products that anticipate what you will do now, soon, and later. Finally, these prediction products are traded in a new kind of marketplace for behavioral predictions that I call behavioral futures markets.”

    Book starts concepts like "Home or Exile" and its relevance to present day live. Concept of "Right of Sanctuary" is introduced in early chapters. Author brings out concepts in a beautiful manner, first by specifying the sociologists like B F Skinner and then building up from there into industrial society and eventually into present day "Surveillance Capitalism". Interesting ideas like "Right to be Forgotten" are also discussed.

    Book is organized into 3 parts and each part has 5 to 6 chapters to bring out central ideas. Book covers companies like Google, Apple. Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook and their present day impact on human lives. The book mentions the story and build of these companies without singling out any company as the leader. Authors claims that all of these companies collectively practice "Surveillance Capitalism". Companies practicing this new kind of capitalism constantly take unilateral control over human experiences, lives and ultimately on human mind. This control is similar to what B  F Skinner mentioned in his early work on "behavioral modification"

    Right to Privacy and its interplay between Right to free expression, the tension between various laws, and how it is brought over in various court cases against the top Big Tech companies is interesting discussion. This brings about the inadequacy of present day laws in terms of in-ability to control unfettered access by SC companies into our daily lives is detailed out beautifully by author.

 

    

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