This book reveals the origins of the algorithmic, data mad population that existed in the 21st century. The Simulmatics Corporation that was launched during the Cold War had targeted the voters and mined data by manipulating the consumers. This destabilized the politics and has disordered knowledge. All this happened decades before Google and Facebook. The author has access to the company s papers from MIT’s archives and he used them to tell about this forgotten part of history. The whole arrogance of Silicon Valley is rooted in this.
Simulmatics was found in 1959 by social scientists to predict and manipulate the future through computer simulation of human behavior. These scientists built a “People Machine” which aimed at modeling everything. Their clients included the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign, the New York Times, the Department of Defense, and the likes. The company vanished quickly in the 1970s. Simulmatics created a bomb that detonated in the twenty-first century and created a world where companies collect and model human behavior.
The company collected the most ordinary decisions which is a cautionary tale in itself. The book highlights this foundation of today’s companies and its inception which is an interesting read.
Comments