Do you observe your fellow commuters with morbid curiosity…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they peer into their phones, absorbed by the latest hyperbolic headline or fantasy football result? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you watch them click furiously through various online portals, waiting to unleash their next Facebook comeback or Twitter storm? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you look around the train, do you see human cadavers swaying back and forth, illuminated by their blue, backlit screens? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If so, you too have witnessed the subtle shift in societal behaviour; one that’s revolutionising the way we live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, humanity is being transformed not by huge market forces, but instead, by tiny, seemingly mundane actions we take, unthinking, every day.
Each time we opt to use our phone, sign into Amazon and buy a new pair of speedos, we submit a vote.
One that may well set in motion a series of events resulting in the closure of yet another high street outlet the following year.
The problem?
We\u2019re poorly positioned to interpret the cause and effect of these, apparently benign, actions.
Like hearing of a conflict in an obscure corner of the world, the reality doesn\u2019t hit home until we\u2019re forcibly ejected from our little bubbles, during a temporary Internet outage or fuel crisis.
And although we don\u2019t often stop to consider these daily invisible referendums, I can assure you they\u2019re taking place on an obscure server somewhere, spewing out binary 0\u2019s and 1\u2019s.
The thing is, these decisions aren\u2019t being made in a concrete Siberian bunker with locked briefcases and nuclear buttons.
Rather, society is being remade every day by each and every one of us in our desire for convenience, guided by the \u2018not-so-free’ hand of capitalism and its profiteers.
You see, the market has become our new God, defining our decisions and behaviour better than an evil despot ever could.
By exploiting our prehistoric instincts, algorithms have created a new currency so powerful that it stands to remodel humanity\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n