Surveillance Capitalism & Algorithmic Control

In his words 4

“Google is basically a private version of NSA National Security Agency”
7:05 The Pervert’s Guide to Podcasting · surveillance capitalism / Google as NSA

“I think Julian Assange was right when he said that Google is basically a private version of NSA”
7:01 The Pervert’s Guide to Podcasting · surveillance capitalism

“We can experience the absolute only through our very failure to experience it.”
1:23:51 Figures of Post-Humanity · Kantian sublime / negative access to the absolute

The stories that teach it

the jokes and anecdotes he reaches for when he works in this idea, ranked by how many of its talks they turn up in; each card is one story, with every retelling on its page

example · in 4 of its talks

Chinese schoolchildren wearing brain-activity rings

Chinese elementary schools equipped students with metal rings that measured brain activity so teachers could see on a screen when a student's attention fell, a primitive but real form of cognitive surveillance already in use.

example · in 5 of its talks

V for Vendetta morning after

In the final scene of V for Vendetta thousands of unarmed Londoners march on parliament and the people take over; Žižek says he would sell his mother into slavery to see Part 2, what happens the day after the victory.

example · in 4 of its talks

Stephen Hawking's brain-wired wheelchair

A man who knew Stephen Hawking told Žižek that in his last years Hawking no longer needed to move his finger, his brain was directly connected and he just thought 'forward' and his chair moved. If the signal goes out, it can also go in: who will control this?

anecdote · in 4 of its talks

Fukushima and Tokyo evacuation

Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Žižek's friend and theorist of catastrophes, reported that after Fukushima the Japanese government secretly panicked at the prospect of evacuating all 30 million inhabitants of the Tokyo area, illustrating the scale of trans-state action that contemporary cr…

example · in 3 of its talks

Brazil restaurant scene

In Terry Gilliam's Brazil, rich patrons are served a plate of mud with a photo of a steak, illustrating how love now functions: consuming a 'piece of shit' while fantasizing about the exquisite reality.

example · in 3 of its talks

Benjamin Libet's Experiment

Libet's experiment showed neurons fire before conscious decision, apparently proving free will illusory. Žižek notes Libet himself argued freedom lies in the capacity to say 'no' in that split second, freedom as veto, not initiation.

Kung Fu Panda3 China banning time-travel and alternate-history narratives3 Daisetz Suzuki's Knife3 Native Americans prefer 'Indians'3 Already-surveilled (Cambridge Analytica / Israel)2 British professor / Shakespearean 'protest' cut by Chinese censors2 Film Noir Femme Fatale2 Algorithm predicting Trump voters' 'true' voting intentions2 Stalin and H.G. Wells on self-criticism2 Australian New South Wales legal consent registration2

Where it comes up 43

55 moments located in the transcripts, click a timestamp to play from there

Why I Am Still A Communist2019-12-07 · 2:14:56

32:52 surveillance capitalism

… d by the digitalization of our lives is debated in our media, the focus is usually on the new phase of capitalism called by shoshana zuboff surveillance capitalism.

33:46 the digital big Other

… we make the details of our lives and its habits transparent to the digital big other.

33:23 behavioral surplus

… end quote so we the wards are not just material, we are also exploited, involved in an unequal exchange, which is why the term behavioral surplus is justified here.

Apocalyptic & Post Apocalyptic – pandemic, dystopia, horror, climate change, & so on2021-10-14 · 1:35:56

7:43 surveillance capitalism

… in our media, the focus is usually on the new face of capitalism called by Shoshana Zuboff you probably at least many of you know her book *Surveillance Capitalism*.

8:23 behavioral surplus

… ed, observed by the digital machinery, are not just material, we are also exploited, involved in an unequal exchange, which is why the term behavioral surplus playing the role of surplus value is fully justified here.

Europe is Kaput – Long live Europe!2015-11 · 1:53:00

1:33:36 surveillance capitalism

… have been usurped by the powers that be in what has become a form of surveillance capitalism.

1:45:45 high-tech liberalism

… this is high-tech liberalism.

For a Left that Dares Speak its Name2019-10-09 · 1:55:27

44:20 surveillance capitalism

… We—we live in—okay, I don't totally agree with that lady, but she's on the right path: Shoshana Zuboff with surveillance capitalism and so on.

1:47:34 therapeutic power

… en are not just still oppressed, but the new functioning of power, which is no longer the old oppressive power but the more, let's call it, therapeutic power.

The Pervert’s Guide to Podcasting2020-11-25 · 1:38:44

9:37 surveillance capitalism

… 't care if they trace my movement just where are the results you know in spite of all these numbers are still exploding and so on and so on surveillance capitalism I think we have to admit even doctors that we there are so many things we don't know well I guess the sorry somebody's calling or no no no …