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Tag: persuasion

Instrumentarian power in surveillance capitalism

Instrumentarian power in surveillance capitalism

“Under the regime of instrumentarian power, the mental agency and self-possession of the right to the future tense are gradually submerged beneath a new kind of automaticity: a lived experience of stimulus-response-reinforcement aggregated as the comings and goings of mere organisms. Our conformity is irrelevant to instrumentarianism’s success. There is no need for mass submission to social norms, no loss of self to the collective induced by terror and compulsion, no offers of acceptance and belonging as a reward for…

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Can memes bypass rationality to manipulate you?

Can memes bypass rationality to manipulate you?

We’ve had a few discussions about what ‘memes’ are and how they work. We didn’t reach a consensus on whether they are true replicators in their own rights, as genes (or gene collectives) seem to be. Consider the following excerpt (author permission obtained) with the less rigorous working definition of a meme in mind: a unit of information with the capacity to shape perception and belief (or a  unit of ‘culture transmission’). Also, consider the conversations and readings we’ve had about…

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Cambridge Analytica pilfered Facebook data to influence election

Cambridge Analytica pilfered Facebook data to influence election

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.93″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.93″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.93″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.93″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”20px”] Sophisticated, sometimes AI-enabled data analytics tools allow construction of individual personality profiles accurate enough to support targeted manipulation of individuals’ perceptions and actions.  [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”11px|0px|0px|0px”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.93″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_blurb title=”Analytics firm abused Facebook users’ data to influence the presidential election” _builder_version=”3.0.93″ custom_margin=”||10px|” custom_padding=”20px||10px|” box_shadow_style=”preset2″] Last night Facebook announced bans against Cambridge Analytica, its parent company and several individuals for allegedly sharing and keeping data that…

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A dive into the black waters under the surface of persuasive design

A dive into the black waters under the surface of persuasive design

A Guardian article last October brings the darker aspects of the attention economy, particularly the techniques and tools of neural hijacking, into sharp focus. The piece summarizes some interaction design principles and trends that signal a fundamental shift in means, deployment, and startling effectiveness of mass persuasion. The mechanisms reliably and efficiently leverage neural reward (dopamine) circuits to seize, hold, and direct attention toward whatever end the designer and content providers choose. The organizer of a $1,700 per person event…

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