(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Co-author Michael S. Malone / MENLO PARK
Here in Silicon Valley, it's an open secret that countless companies and startups are working on ways to turn humans into robots they can control. The industry focuses less technology than what one might call "personality disorder marketing".
Technologies are created and developed in recognition of the fact that all pleasure seems more or less equal to the brain, whether it comes from a victory at the blackjack table, a line of cocaine or "likes" on social media.
It is for this reason that the powerful companies (and, in some cases, the authorities) that control the internet over the past decades have moved from accidentally or inadvertently creating human "robots" to do so on purpose and knowledge. Contrary to the usual warnings of artificial intelligence and automation, the greatest threat to humanity in the long run will not come from our machines, but from the people who design them.
Always online
Those shaping the current technological age have violated public confidence by choosing business models that are openly amoral or even immoral. In the footsteps of tobacco companies and the casino industry, they deliberately create and favor addictive behavior in the name of profit. In the year 2000, it used ordinary Americans 9,4 hours weekly online; now some calculations indicate this figure to 30 hours. And with the rise of virtual reality in consumer systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), it's easy to imagine that we will soon spend 75% of our waking hours in virtual rooms designed to manipulate our behavior.
In the year 2000, the average American spent 9,4 hours a week online; now someone indicates
calculations this number to 30 hours.
"Programmed" people are certainly nothing new. Throughout history, armies of soldiers have marched willingly to their deaths, religious followers have accepted articles of faith without question, and consumers have bought goods and services that they know they do not need.
In the 1930s, the controversial Harvard psychologist BF Skinner paved the way for behavioral analysis as a field. Skinner believed that the "freedom" everyone values so highly is in fact illusory. Everyone is really controlled by subtle and complex rewards and punishments. This led him to conclude that a "behavioral technology" could be used to improve humanity. Through a series of signals, activities and rewards, he developed a process of "operant conditioning" based on the behavior of test subjects – which casinos have profited from the side.
What is different now is how effective, pervasive and comprehensive the technologies for human manipulation have become. Institutional "controls" (to use a term from industry) have dramatically improved their control processes, perfected their feedback circuits and refined their "sensory mechanisms" – all to obtain more information about our bodies, emotions, habits and brains.
Addictive products and services
In part, the technology-driven transformation of humans into robots is a feature of our modern age. It has all happened very quickly over the last century. It started with Frederick Winslow Taylor's use of a stopwatch to take time on assembly line workers, and has evolved at breakneck speed over the last 40 years. Now, with the spread of IoT, governments and companies will be able to use an ever-increasing set of information and tools. Most of these will be invisibly planted in the world around us to control individual and collective behavior. Due to rapid advances in face recognition, our emotional lives will become more and more like an open book, and exposed to new, subtle forms of influence.
They deliberately favor addictive behavior in the name of profit.
Furthermore, the basic cost of turning people into robots has dropped dramatically. Rather than lure people into casinos or make them smoke cigarettes, the leading tech platforms – which already have access to almost anyone who owns a smartphone – need to use only behavioral research in designing their addiction-creating products and services.
Are we still free?
It doesn't have to be that way. But first, policy makers, business leaders and ordinary citizens must recognize the magnitude of the problem. The behavior manipulation engine relies on personal information, and much of it we give away voluntarily. Ask yourself how often you refuse "free" stuff like Gmail or Facebook, where each of them can put your online actions and secrets right in the hands of remote companies. Did you know that your purchase of a chocolate plate at the store, as well as being cataloged in hundreds of servers worldwide?
For now we are still free. It is our right to choose whether we want to be manipulated, as well as demand more information about what this process entails. Citizens should have full access to and ownership of the data collected about their personal information. Restoring ownership and control can allow companies to store credit card information for a couple of years, while limiting their ability to access a user's browser history for no more than a few days. But the controllers should also be required to present their behavior manipulative techniques. Another thing is that any "opt-out" should have been turned on as the default user setting rather than having to be searched. All of this will require government regulation and severe penalties for any cross-border organization.
The real world
An even more radical proposal will not only let users choose how and when their data is shared, but also make money from it. If an online gaming company wants to manipulate you into getting them behavioral data eight hours a day, they might have to pay for that service. But we must also practice self-discipline. We are inundated with amazing new services and social networks that can improve our lives in the real world, rather than delve deeper into virtual holes. Our goal should be to create a business environment where these are the models that are emerging.
By claiming ownership of our data and putting a price tag on behavior manipulation, we can change the fundamental conditions that have given rise to a toxic industry. If we can establish user control and transparency, positive changes will follow: laws that mandate data security; industry-wide ethical regulations; and a generation of character entrepreneurs who would rather create value for society.
From MODERN TIMES partner Project Syndicate.
