Surveillance capitalists frame their practices as inevitable to hide calculated self-dealing.

Evidence

In truth, search engines do not retain, but surveillance capitalism does. Schmidt’s statement is a classic of misdirection that bewilders the public by conflating commercial imperatives and technological necessity. It camouflages the concrete practices of surveillance capitalism and the specific choices that impel Google’s brand of search into action. Most significantly, it makes surveillance capitalism’s practices appear to be inevitable when they are actually meticulously calculated and lavishly funded means to self-dealing commercial ends. We will examine this notion of “inevitabilism” in depth in Chapter 7. For now, suffice to say that despite all the futuristic sophistication of digital innovation, the message of the surveillance capitalist companies barely differs from the themes once glorified in the motto of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: “Science Finds—Industry Applies—Man Conforms.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 59

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘Science Finds-Industry Applies-Man Conforms’ motto connects to broader critiques of technological determinism and progress ideology. — connects to: As citizens become more legible, the monitoring institutions themselves grow opaque. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 391; Believing surveillance capitalism is inevitable is itself a form of capitulation — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1652; Surveillance capitalists deliberately conceal how their platforms monetize user behavior — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1411
• SEED: Angle: tracing ‘inevitabilism’ rhetoric from 1933 World’s Fair techno-utopianism to Big Tech’s apology for data retention.
• DEFINE: Introduces the concept of ‘inevitabilism’ as a rhetorical strategy of surveillance capitalism.

Broader Connections

• Believing surveillance capitalism is inevitable is itself a form of capitulation #expands (0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1652
• Surveillance capitalists deliberately conceal how their platforms monetize user behavior #exemplifies (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1411