Influence over behavior is the very goal of advertising and to some extent that is what Zuboff describes. But Zuboff takes a stronger view of the influence the platforms have over us, suggesting that they have a distinct form of power (which she labels “instrumentarianism”) that can be defined as “ownership of the means of behavioral

More effective advertising also relates to understanding not only individual behavior but also aggregate behavior. What you do—what you look at, what you click on, and what you buy—helps build a model of people like you.

Pattern recognition is also easier when dealing with a confined game, such as a literal sports match or something like the weather. The limits just described help explain why, so far, human prediction has mainly been successful in a limited number of settings where copious amounts of data are available with patterns that can be recognized. (Outside

But the human desire to avoid unnecessary pain and inconvenience is its own force of no less influence. It may be the strongest force out there.

In the developed nations of the twenty-first century, convenience—that is, more efficient and easier ways of doing personal tasks—has emerged as perhaps the most powerful force shaping our individual lives and our economies.

rewards or punishments that follow a “variable reward schedule,” or an unpredictable pattern.

For the consumers are no longer just buyers, they are also raw resources to be mined—for attention, data, and the spending of cash that comes from time on site and the continuing relationship. Perhaps the model is best described this way: You own a population first, then harvest it later.

a contest to become the indispensable “everything cocoon” for as much of humanity as possible.

the platforms today, whatever they may say, are really in the business of herding a rather mercurial and moody form of livestock (us).