Skinner anticipated surveillance capitalism’s practice of rendering private life into behavioral data

Evidence

Skinner understood that the engineering of behavior risked violating individual sensibilities and social norms, especially concerns about privacy. In order to allay these anxieties he advised that observation must be unobtrusive, ideally remaining outside the awareness of the organism: “Behavior may also be observed with a minimum of interaction between subject and scientist, and this is the case with which one naturally tries to begin.” But there would be challenges. New technologies of behavior would have to continually push the envelope of the public-private divide in order to access all the data relevant to behavioral prediction and control. In this he anticipated today’s rendition frontier as new detection systems plumb the depths of personalities and emotions: “But we are still faced with events which occur at the private level and which are important to the organism without instrumental amplification. How the organism reacts to these events will remain an important question, even though the events may some day be made accessible to everyone.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1174

Categorization

• XREF: Connects Skinner’s ‘rendition frontier’ directly to Zuboff’s earlier concept of the data ‘rendition’ apparatus in surveillance capitalism — same intellectual lineage she traces throughout the book. — connects to: Surveillance capitalism may realize Skinner’s utopia in service of profit — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1188; Surveillance capitalism operates through Big Other to engineer behavior rather than souls — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1196; Surveillance capitalism’s first move is seizing behavioral surplus from everyday life — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 437 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Surveillance capitalism may realize Skinner’s utopia in service of profit #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1188
• Under surveillance capitalism the product is behavioral data, not the goods themselves #corroborates (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 418
• Surveillance capitalism’s first move is seizing behavioral surplus from everyday life #corroborates (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 437
• Surveillance capitalism operates through Big Other to engineer behavior rather than souls #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1196