Surveillance capitalism

This is a post in my Ethics, Lazy Management, and Flawed Thinking series - see https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/11/ethics-lazy-management-and-flawed.html.


I can be a little slow at times - in fact, when learning something new, I often make a point of going slower than others, which

(a) enables me to learn more thoroughly, comprehensively, and with greater retention, and
(b) signals to those around me who might be struggling that it is OK to be slower than the fast ones. 

I've now started catching up to the writing about what is called surveillance capitalism. from "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power" by Shoshana Zuboff (ISBN 9781782832744, pub. Profile Books, 2019, Amazon):

"Surveillance capitalists quickly realized that they could do anything they wanted, and they did."

 I'd read the reviews about the book last year, and considered the term encapsulated many of my concerns very well. Now I'm reading the book and, although only just getting into it, am already so impressed that I want to publicise it here, beginning with a few other links:

•  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Surveillance_capitalism&oldid=936652575; 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shoshana_Zuboff&oldid=936216391; 
• https://shoshanazuboff.com/book/; 
• https://www.azquotes.com/author/28856-Shoshana_Zuboff; 
• https://www.surveillancecapitalism.com/; 
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/02/age-of-surveillance-capitalism-shoshana-zuboff-review; 
• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-google-facebook; and 
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-25/surveillance-capitalism-how-facebook-google-collect-your-data/11243362.

As I read all this, I'm very mindful of the old saying, an aphorism that I've grown up with, that "what you're prepared to go without is a measure of how serious you are about your values".  In my case, that has included:

• foregoing promotions in the workplace because I wasn't happy about ethical issues; 
• giving up all chance of early or "comfortable" retirement so I can meet the needs of my dependents; and 
• not joining up with facebook, which looks more and more like one of my best decisions every day. That has set a lot of my alternative work back a great deal, but to take advantage of that platform, I feel very much that I would have had to sell my soul. 

Others are clearly comfortable with facebook: it's just that I aren't.

I also note that some have made informed decisions to be comfortable with and part of surveillance capitalism; I and others haven't, but it is those who haven't made a fully informed decision one way or the other that concern me.

For the sake of that third group, I urge you to read this book.