Surveillance capitalists now frame governance itself as a product to optimize.

Evidence

Applied utopistics are on the move at Facebook, Google, and Microsoft as the frontier of behavioral surplus extraction moves into realms of life traditionally understood as societal and elaborated under some combination of civil institutions and public leadership. Zuckerberg’s 2017 mission statement for Facebook, introduced as “building global community,” announced a new phase of applied utopistics: “Overall, it is important that the governance of our community scales with the complexity and demands of its people. We are committed to always do better, even if that involves building a worldwide voting system to give you more voice and control. Our hope is that this model provides examples of how collective decision-making may work in other aspects of the global community.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1294

Categorization

• DEFINE: Applied utopistics — the operational move of behavioral surplus extraction into civil-society realms — gets its clearest working definition here.
• XREF: Connects to Zuboff’s earlier chapters on instrumentarian power and the social legitimation moves of surveillance capital. — connects to: Surveillance capitalism’s behavioral modification now targets everyone rather than just captives — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1025
• SEED: Angle: Zuckerberg’s ‘worldwide voting system’ as the template for platform-governance claims — what happens when a corporation deputizes itself as the mechanism of democratic voice.

Broader Connections

• Surveillance capitalism’s behavioral modification now targets everyone rather than just captives #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1025