Surveillance capitalism extracts behavioral surplus to predict and modify behavior.

Evidence

Zuboff’s magnum opus theorizes “surveillance capitalism” as a new accumulation regime that extracts behavioral surplus from users to predict and modify behavior. Her method is political-economic critique synthesizing Polanyi, Arendt, and STS. — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 73

Telematics are not intended merely to know but also to do (economies of action). They are hammers; they are muscular; they enforce. Behavioral underwriting promises to reduce risk through machine processes designed to modify behavior in the direction of maximum profitability. Behavioral surplus is used to trigger punishments, such as real-time rate hikes, financial penalties, curfews, and engine lockdowns, or rewards, such as rate discounts, coupons, and gold stars to redeem for future benefits. The consultancy firm AT Kearney anticipates “IoT enriched relationships” to connect “more holistically” with customers “to influence their behaviors.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 669

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the surveillance capitalism thesis and its behavioral-surplus mechanism.
• XREF: Connects to the Candy House and The Circle passages on cognitive/data extraction. — connects to: The mode of surplus extraction reveals the hidden foundation of the entire social edifice; Surveillance can predict civilian behavior from recurring spatial and social patterns; Platforms extract behavioral surplus from human activity to predict and modify it. — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 809 (+12 more)
• STORYSTEM: The engine lockdown and curfew capabilities are a dystopian lever: a car that can punish its driver for driving ‘wrongly’ is a ready-made plot engine for a near-future novel of financialized control.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 73; Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 669

Broader Connections

• Platforms extract behavioral surplus from human activity to predict and modify it. #corroborates (0.95) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 809
• Surveillance turns any departure from a person’s habit into a potential death signal. #expands (0.60) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 214