💬 Microcast #086 — Strategies for dealing with surveillance capitalism

Replied to Microcast #086 — Strategies for dealing with surveillance capitalism (Doug Belshaw's Thought Shrapnel)

Over the last year (at least) I’ve been talking about the dangers of surveillance capitalism. Stephen Haggard picked up on this and, after an email conversation, sent through an audio provocation for disucssion.

I have tried and failed to record an audio response to this, so have turned to text. I think the challenge we face in regards to surveillance capitalism is one around narrative. Although we live in an ‘Informed Era‘, there is always more that can be done. As I have discussed elsewhere:

The challenge as I see it is to understand that consent is something that we inadvertently give each time we tap into an application. I would argue then it is a constant state of becoming more informed. In an ever changing world, with goals forever moving, it is a case where we can never quite be fully informed.

One of the issues with this is the danger to be black and white with such conversations. I recently read a piece the discussed the problem with science research being one of narrative, rather than just explaining the facts. I think that the same applies for discussions around surveillance capitalism.

Although people like Douglas Rushkoff have raised concern about narrative and storytelling, I feel that until we have different people talking about the topic it is not going to go anywhere.