Skinner’s utopia rested on treating humans as engineered organisms

Evidence

Skinner’s cure was different and unique: a utopia of technique that promised a future of social equality and dispassionate harmony founded on the viewpoint of the Other-One, the “organism among organisms,” as the object of “behavioral engineering.” It is the future of Meyer’s dreams, in which Frazier, the founder-leader of the fictional Walden Two and Skinner’s outspoken avatar, describes that ideal community as a “superorganism” that can be shaped and controlled “as smoothly and efficiently as champion football teams.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1185

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘the viewpoint of the Other-One’ and ‘behavioral engineering’ — Skinner’s conceptual apparatus for treating persons as organisms.
• ADDENDUM: The superorganism shaped and controlled maps onto the book’s thesis about behavioral surplus prediction shaping human behavior at scale.
• XREF: connects to: Skinner advocated a behavioral technology comparable in power to physics and biology. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1169; Skinner rejected democracy, markets, humanism, and religion as cures — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1184; Skinner’s behaviorist utopia requires sacrificing liberal ideals for the good life — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1186 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Skinner’s behaviorist utopia requires sacrificing liberal ideals for the good life #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1186
• Skinner argued the autonomous self must be abolished for species survival #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1400
• Skinner’s reinforcement schedules replace simple stimulus-response with engineered behavior shaping. #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 924
• Skinner envisioned a population-scale technology of behavioral control that rejected freedom #expands (0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1012
• Societies can be controlled through engineered pleasure rather than coercion #expands (0.75) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 1253
• Skinner’s WWII pigeon-guided-missile project transformed his psychology into a technology for society #expands (0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1146
• Dystopia can rule through engineered desire rather than repression #exemplifies (0.75) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 2380
• Skinner anticipated surveillance capitalism’s practice of rendering private life into behavioral data #corroborates (0.70) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1174
• Adorno-Horkheimer’s instinct-based utopian critique rested on unproven biological assumptions #contradicts (0.70) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1121