Skinner’s engineered freedom concealed a despotism of anonymous planners

Evidence

“Our members are practically always doing what they want to do—what they ‘choose’ to do,” says Frazier cheerfully, “but we see to it that they will want to do precisely the things which are best for themselves and the community. Their behavior is determined, yet they’re free.” Members do not really vote; they live by “the Code,” whose development is deliberately obscured from them for their own good. Planners and “experts,” nearly anonymous and linguistically hidden in the passive voice, wield all of the power in Walden Two. In turn, they’re beholden to Frazier’s all-encompassing vision. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 178

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Frazier’s line — ‘their behavior is determined, yet they’re free’ — is a compact model of manipulated consent that Odell carefully contrasts with genuine attention/withdrawal. Her critique of Silicon-Valley-style wellbeing and surveillance (‘you’ll want to want’) hangs on this distinction between engineered and authentic wanting.
• XREF: This is the direct ancestor of today’s persuasion-profiling and wellbeing-engineering critiques that Odell will later connect to her attention politics.