A review by chickenrice
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

4.0

Despite not agreeing with everything that is written, and despite the book being probably about 40% overwritten (too many repetitive themes expressed with too many words and vocabulary variations, with a good dose of hyperbole and purple prose) this is nonetheless a very thought-provoking book that paints the business models of the likes of Facebook, Google and Amazon in an interesting light: that these companies are in the business of human behaviour trading. And one potential consequence of this business model being taken too far is that they have gone from automating behavioural measurement, to automating behaviours. Ideas like democracy and free will suddenly appear to be in danger.

Additionally, this book ironically provides a pretty compelling picture of the gigantic business moat that such companies possess, and why governments might actually be incentivised to play down the value of individual privacy in support of privacy erosion and societal stability, and thus buck against any popular push to break up these tech giants. The world painted by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World remains quite plausible.