The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (Electronic Mediations)
The main point, though, is that control, as such, over others, will be exercised more and more through ambient forms of algorithmically mediated behavioral engineering, adaptive control systems programmed to nudge, herd, and condition populations toward the achievement of the policies and goals — monetary, sociocultural, militaristic, bio-political... See more
Peter Schmidt • Attention Machines and Future Politics
An appreciation of the surveillance logic of accumulation that drives this action suggests that this network of things is already evolving into a network of coercion, in which mundane functions are ransomed for behavioral surplus.
Shoshana Zuboff • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
The power of the feed algorithm doesn’t lie in the meaning of the messages it delivers—the algorithm knows nothing of meaning—but rather in its ability to match messages to individuals’ emotional triggers. It automates the striking of responsive chords.