Algorithmic persuasion outmatches human advertising because it is systemic

Evidence

Don Draper also treated us condescendingly. He sold us the sizzle, not the steak. He weaponised our nostalgia and manipulated our melancholia to sell us chocolate bars, fatty burgers and slide projectors. He worked out how to make us buy things we didn’t need or want really. He bought our attention to commodify our souls and pollute our bodies. But with Don at least we had a fighting chance. It was his wits against ours. With Alexa we stand no chance: its power to command is systemic, overwhelming, galactic. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 269

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Algorithmic persuasion is two-way and recursive where broadcast advertising was one-way. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 271; Algorithmic exposure shapes the very choices that appear voluntary — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 422

Broader Connections

• Algorithmic persuasion is two-way and recursive where broadcast advertising was one-way. #expands (0.85) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 271
• Algorithmic exposure shapes the very choices that appear voluntary #expands (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 422