Skinner rejected democracy, markets, humanism, and religion as cures

Evidence

In contrast, Walden Two was not intended as a warning but rather as the antidote to totalitarianism and, more broadly, a practical recipe for the challenges of rebuilding Western societies after the war. Skinner understood his utopia as a methodological cure for the nightmare of crushed souls, a cure that, he insisted, was superior to any of the conventional political, economic, or spiritual remedies on offer. He scoffed at the notion that “democracy” held the solution because it is a political system that merely perpetrates the illusion of freedom while impeding the dominion of science. The promise of the “free market” as the curative for postwar society was an equally empty dream, he believed, because it rewards destructive competitiveness between people and classes. Skinner also rejected existentialism’s new humanism, seeing it as a breeding ground for passivity, and he regarded religion as the worst cure of all, enshrining ignorance and crippling the advance of science. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1184

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the book’s broader argument that surveillance capitalism similarly sees itself as a technical/scientific solution superseding political and economic remedies. — connects to: American public rejected behaviorism’s claims over individual freedom — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1022; Skinner’s behaviorist utopia requires sacrificing liberal ideals for the good life — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1186; Skinner saw Enlightenment freedom values as impediments to behavioral science — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1207 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Skinner envisioned a population-scale technology of behavioral control that rejected freedom #expands (0.93) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1012
• Skinner’s behaviorist utopia requires sacrificing liberal ideals for the good life #expands (0.92) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1186
• Skinner saw Enlightenment freedom values as impediments to behavioral science #expands (0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1207
• Skinner’s utopia rested on treating humans as engineered organisms #expands (0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1185
• Skinner argued the autonomous self must be abolished for species survival #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1400
• Skinner held that gaining knowledge destroys the illusion of free will #expands (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1153