Readings

This learning unit is entiraly based on Shoshana Zuboff’s book:

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.

with focus on following chapters:

• Chapter 12: Two Species of Power
• Chapter 13: Big Other and The Rise of Instrumentarian Power
• Chapter 14: A Utopia of Certainty
• Chapter 15: The Instrumentarian Collective

Introduction

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley wrote in the first half of the 20^th century two famous dystopian works.

The work dystopia comes from Ancient Greek δυσ– (dus-, “bad”) + τόπος (tópos, “place”)

A dystopian fiction depicts a place that does not exist but envisions a foreseeable dark future for humanity.

George Orwell’s Dystopia, “1984” (published in 1949), describes a totalitarian regime sustained by a constant surveillance, the Big Brother no one can escape from. The tyrannical regime is characterized by the absolute lack of privacy. The narrative instills the nightmarish feeling of total scrutiny. A life without the sanctuary of privacy cannot be considered human. George Orwell wrote his novel after the devastating experience of the totalitarian terror in German and the Soviet Union. He fought against fascism in the Spanish civil war, where he also knew first hand the terror caused by the communist repression in their own ranks.

Aldous Huxley dystopia, Brave New World (1932) appears to be much softer. Still, for the same reason, is more terrifying. In Huxley’s dystopian scenario, individual freedom has disappeared, and the individuals bow to the supreme power in return for a life free of dangers and material need. To make life bearable, the individuals resort to the sensorial pleasure and the use of drugs (Huxley calls the synthetic drug “Soma” in the novel). The population in a brave new world avoids pain and looks for instant gratification.

In this learning unit, we will introduce a new imaginary scenario, in this case a utopian fiction. The word “utopia” also comes from Greek οὐ (“not”) and τόπος (“place”), translating literally as “no place”, or a place that does not exist. A utopian novel describes an imaginary world, but as opposed to the dystopian fiction, this fictive place is presented as an ideal society, a new paradise on earth.

Walden Two was published by Harvard behavioral scientist B. F. Skinner in 1948. The author’s original intention was to create a utopia. Walden two in a happy community created by fictional character T. E. Frazier, also a scientist. Freedom is presented as an illusion. Something that the humanity needs to leave behind to achieve the ideal rational future. 

In spite of the intention of the author, Walden Two has frightening elements that create a sense of discomfort in the reader. Many considered the book a dystopian fiction close to the works of Orwell and Huxley.

In this learning unit, we will analyze the scientific theses of Burrhus Frederic Skinner – and connect them with the efforts of contemporary social and behavioral engineers. To this end, we must dissect how communication technologies became the key to the current utopian/dystopian visions. 

Instrumentarianism

The main concern expressed by Shoshana Zuboff in the book on Surveillance Capitalism, one of the columns of this course, is that a new type of absolute power may be on the rise.

She calls the new type of power, made possible by the irruption of new communications technologies, “Instrumentarianism”.

In this video, I explain what this terms means, the new fashion of surveillance, and the instrumental role of digital technologies.

Walden Two

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was a professor of psychology at Harvard University and one of the pioneers in the field of behaviorism.

Professor Skinner originally studied animal behavior. He worked pigeons and rats. During War World II he developed a project to make pigeons guided missiles. The project was never implemented.

In his studies with animals, he explored the potential of behavioral engineering with the so-called schedules of reinforcement. The idea was to produce patterns of activity – actual behaviors – that were not originally in the behavioral repertoire of the animal.

He became extraordinarily popular not through his academic work, but through a work of literary fiction, a novel: Walden Two.

The storyline is very simple – a group of scientists lead by Professor Burris visit the experimental community Walden Two. Practically the whole book is a dialogue between the scientists and the leader of the experimental community T. E. Frazier.

They discuss a variety of topics that have to do with the ideal form of government, educational philosophy, sexual equality, American Democracy or Soviet communism.

Still, the foundation of the utopian community is based on the idea that a perfect society can be created through behavioral engineering.

The video analyzes the theoretical basis of behavioral technology and its philosophical implications.

Radical Behaviorism

This section keeps digging into Skinner’s theoretical work. If focuses on the scientific inspiration of the author, in particular the work of German scholar Max Meyer and his psychology of “The Other One”.The video explains the science (or lack of) behind the idea of “radical behaviorism” and explores its implications for the idea of individual freedom.

The New Species of Power

This video focuses on one of Shoshana Zuboff’s most important concepts:

Instrumentarianism.

The author sees in the instrumentarianism, the new type of power, a dangerous combination of 

The “formal indifference” of liberal and capitalist ideologies toward the sufferings of the individual, and the empirical/scientific perspective of the radical behaviorism.

The novelty, in the case of instrumentarian power, is that the total certainty is produced without terror: a model of guaranteed outcomes without violence. In this regard it is closer to Brave New World than to the Orwellian 1984.

Total Certainty

The final video in this learning unit discusses the actual power accumulated by the most popular online platforms and corporate actors (Google, Microsoft, Facebook).

The amount of date gathered by those platforms, opens a new research discipline that Zuboff describes as “Reality Mining”

The problem with traditional empirical social sciences is the limited amount of data and the lack of reliability (For instance in survey research, participants provide responses to the questionnaire. These responses may be distorted by ideological biases, social desirability or fear).

Digital communication technologies should help overcome these traditional limitation – providing an infinite amount of first-hand data about the behavior of the other ones in every single activity of their lives.

This is what we call here “Total Certainty”.