The Age of Surveillance Capitalism — Who Controls Your Behavior?

This is NOT an online meeting but an in-person meeting. Meeting in English. Reading the book is not required.

During the book discussion the leader of the discussion presents the most interesting parts of the book. The great emphasis is placed on discussion.

Book Description What if the most valuable thing about you is not what you buy, but what companies can learn about you?

In *[The Age of Surveillance Capitalism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26195941-the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism)*, Shoshana Zuboff examines a new form of capitalism built around collecting, analyzing, and monetizing data about human behavior. Companies such as Google and Facebook have developed business models in which our online activity can be transformed into predictions about what we are likely to do next — and potentially into tools for influencing what we actually do.

Zuboff argues that this goes beyond traditional advertising or simply “selling our data.” Surveillance capitalism creates an economic system in which human experience itself becomes a source of raw material for prediction and behavioral modification.

The book raises broader questions about technology, privacy, power, freedom, and the relationship between corporations and individuals. How much do platforms actually know about us? Does personalized technology merely respond to our behavior, or does it gradually shape it? And what happens when the incentives of technology companies conflict with human autonomy?

At this event, we'll use Zuboff's ideas as a starting point for a broader discussion about Big Tech, surveillance, algorithms, advertising, manipulation, and the future of human autonomy.

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Discussion Topics

• What exactly makes surveillance capitalism different from traditional capitalism or advertising? • How much do companies actually need to know about us in order to influence our behavior? • Are personalized recommendations helping us make better choices, or making choices for us? • Is targeted advertising fundamentally different from traditional advertising? • Where is the line between predicting human behavior and manipulating it? • Have social media platforms changed what it means to have privacy? • Can individuals realistically maintain autonomy in a world increasingly mediated by algorithms? • Which of Zuboff's arguments are still relevant — or even more relevant — in the age of AI?