An incomplete history of prediction & techno-capitalism

Travis Kellerman

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3 min read

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May 2, 2019

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The brains of homo sapiens are prediction engines. The evolution of humanity is towards complete information.

First,

• We named things, designated ownership, labeled them with language and text.
• We observed our place in the universe, set the rules of physics and time as agreed principles for organized society.
• We charted oceans and lands to decide how and where to move.
• With markets, we assigned value to physical objects based on their relationship to our society and the individual.
• We created ledgers, recorded interactions as transactions using data.

• We built tools and industry to remove ourselves from survivalism and roles of nature.
• More important roles of nature — resource production — were assigned to machines.
• We conceived of organizational process to reduce unknowns and expand our safety to make predictions.

Then,

• We indexed people, businesses…