Official synthesis - essay on Mark Zuckerberg\'s war on free will PDF

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essay on Mark Zuckerberg's war on free will...

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UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES Department of political science

Synthesis on « Mark Zuckerberg’s war on free will » by Franklin Foer

presented by Clément Sophie (000500603)

within the framework of Contemporary Political Issues: group 6

Professor Ana Andgulaze

Academic year: 2019-2020

Since the 1970’s, we have witnessed a radical change in our society, entering the Digital Age has allowed us to easily access knowledge and information thanks to the emergence of digital computers. Nonetheless, writers like Franklin Foer see a negative side to this new era. The departed editor of “The New Republic”, Franklin Foer now serves as a writer for “The Atlantic” magazine. In addition to that, Foer is the author of the book “How Soccer Explains The World” along with his latest book “World Without Mind” which includes “Mark Zuckerberg’s war on free will”. In the latter text, Foer unravels the hidden side of Mark Zuckerberg’s platform, widely known under the name of “Facebook”. The social networking site’s promoters claim that Facebook grants the opportunity for individual participation, and allows users to read for themselves and forge their own opinions. Foer opposes these allegations by asserting his readers that big technology companies such as Facebook itself, are designed systems created not only to addict the human mind to their site in the form of a never ending News Feed but also determines what is best for its users by manipulating their brain to see what Facebook deems appropriate. In this section of the book, the author alerts his readers on the dangers that these algorithms pose on our behaviour, on our free will, on our line of work, and finally he points out who is responsible.

Facebook’s influence on behaviour Even though Facebook addresses the idea of transparency in our society, what it really means to articulate, according to the author, is a clear illustration of each individual. The founder of Facebook justifies this specific objective by claiming that transparency amongst individuals will contribute to the improvement of our moral behaviour. The author puts forward that this theory is an attempt to control one’s behaviour by determining what is best for each and every one of us. He also argues that transparency isn’t as positive as we are told it is, this is an on-going threat to expose our intimate details, our unpremeditated posts and our photos in order to promulgate good behaviour. Franklin Foer even states that Facebook sought to conduct a series of social experiments, he claimed that they attempted to manipulate the mental state of their users to discover whether emotions are contagious, it was also claimed that Facebook was able to shape democracy. Foer argued that these experiments were “invasive” and “manipulative”, the tremendous power held by these corporations is too important for their liking and if not handled carefully the consequences could be devastating for political and personal life.

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A dehumanising creation imposed by a new elite Just as machines have replaced physical labour during the Industrial Revolution, Franklin Foer spreads a sentiment of fear in our minds by claiming algorithms will soon move on to replacing one of Man’s greatest trait: creativity. Even-though it was human creativity that gave birth to algorithms, they have not exactly adopted a human’s train of thought. As established by the author, they do not take into consideration basic human characteristics such as emotion, intuition, forgiveness, or sense of discrimination. Although algorithms are dissociated with humans, there is the presence of a corporation of human engineers monitoring and controlling Facebook’s platform. Franklin Foer transported his readers to the very essence of this up-coming elite. He claims that Mark Zuckerberg is “the heir” to a 200 year old political tradition, which is “the rule of engineers”. The author explains that this idea dates back to the time of the French Revolution, engineers desire to “strip the old order of its power, while governing in the spirit of science, imposing rationality and order”. This idea spread to the United States of America, and now Foer declares that engineers are the most controlling influential force in American life. He also states that Mark Zuckerberg’s crew of specified engineers seek out to keep their users on their platform until it becomes an addiction. Just like smokers are addicted to tobacco, Facebook’s users will become addicted to their News Feed, which is designed especially for that purpose, and this is a form of online manipulation. Automation of the mind According to the author, Facebook’s main source of power is its algorithms. Algorithms were created to eliminate difficult problem solving from human’s minds and settle theological controversies. Foer does not deny that it is an efficient way of living our lives. Indeed, he acknowledges that algorithms allow us to facilitate research, track down long lost friends. However, the author’s criticism is based on the lack of our personal decision-making process. With algorithms always present in the hidden background, we no longer own our decisions. Foer points out that algorithms are always present to influence us on what we should and shouldn’t pay attention to, without even knowing it, we are constantly interacting with them. In Facebook’s case, as the author advances, algorithms seek out every bit of information contained in our data, and from there, based on the hugely gathered materials, these same algorithms impose a small batch of choice items available to the user in question. As reported by Foer, algorithms scan our brains in the interest of creating a digital map of what we desire to see, so that it can make choices on our behalf.

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The said-truth about Facebook’s algorithms In closing, Franklin Foer raises awareness on the dangers algorithms pose on the oblivious users, notably on Facebook. Foer conveys a resistance symbol against this newly set of engineers sitting at the top of the corporate hierarchy, that are said to be inconspicuously manipulating individuals which Foer affirms, will gradually destroy our free will.

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