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Surveillance Capitalism

Shoshana Zuboff

Technology / capitalism critique

It defines the leading critique of digital capitalism, linking data extraction to threats against autonomy and democracy.

Synopsis

An analysis of how tech firms extract behavioral data to predict and shape conduct, creating a new economic and political order.

Core passage idea

Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted work

Tech companies claim human experience as free raw material, converting our behavior into predictions sold to influence what we do next.

It names a novel form of power that profits by anticipating and steering behavior beyond our awareness or consent.

To avoid a bubble

Pair with Friedrich Hayek, Use of Knowledge.

Reading note

Read it for its conceptual framework, recognizing its scale and ambition over its sometimes dense, repetitive prose.

Best paired with

Friedrich Hayek, Use of Knowledge

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