Skinner envisioned a population-scale technology of behavioral control that rejected freedom
Evidence
Another factor was the 1971 publication of B. F. Skinner’s incendiary social meditation Beyond Freedom & Dignity. Skinner prescribed a future based on behavioral control, rejecting the very idea of freedom (as well as every tenet of a liberal society) and cast the notion of human dignity as an accident of self-serving narcissism. Skinner imagined a pervasive “technology of behavior” that would one day enable the application of behavior-modification methods across entire human populations. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1012
Categorization
- XREF: Directly foreshadows Zuboff’s own argument that behavioral surplus and prediction products operate as a ‘technology of behavior’ at population scale — Skinner is the explicit antecedent of surveillance capitalism. — connects to: Skinner saw Enlightenment freedom values as impediments to behavioral science — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1207; Skinner’s behaviorism prefigured Pentland’s dismissal of the autonomous individual — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1399; Skinner saw freedom and accidents shrinking as computation expands knowledge of behavior. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1167 (+12 more)
- DEFINE: Defines Skinner’s term ‘technology of behavior’ as population-scale behavioral control, an anchor concept for the whole book.
Broader Connections
- Skinner saw Enlightenment freedom values as impediments to behavioral science
#corroborates(0.92) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1207 - Skinner’s behaviorist utopia requires sacrificing liberal ideals for the good life
#corroborates(0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1186 - Skinner’s behaviorism prefigured Pentland’s dismissal of the autonomous individual
#expands(0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1399 - Skinner saw freedom and accidents shrinking as computation expands knowledge of behavior.
#corroborates(0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1167