Markets in future behavior emerged from Google’s predictive analysis of data exhaust

Evidence

Surveillance capitalism’s new story begins with behavioral surplus discovered more or less ready-made in the online environment, when it was realized that the “data exhaust” clogging Google’s servers could be combined with its powerful analytic capabilities to produce predictions of user behavior. Those prediction products became the basis for a preternaturally lucrative sales process that ignited new markets in future behavior. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1066

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the origin of behavioral surplus and prediction products — core defining terms for this foundational read.
• XREF: connects to: Platform competition shifts from price to data as the competitive criterion — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 81; Behavioral surplus flows back to shape driver behavior and feed prediction futures markets — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 679; Pokémon Go pioneered automated mass conditioning of behavior into prediction markets — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 979 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Google institutionalized click-through prediction as a new science of commerce #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 263
• Google’s early ad-matching patents replaced guesswork with predictive behavioral data #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 245
• Google’s patented user-profiling schema already enumerated behavioral surplus attributes by the early 2000s #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1854
• Google’s auctions actually traded derivatives of behavioral surplus #expands (0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 259
• Behavioral surplus forecasting power drives a second imperative beyond extraction #expands (0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 620