Nudges

The Digital Persuasion Engine: Dark Patterns, Surveillance, and Behavioral Control 1 The Digital Persuasion Engine - Part 1: Dark Patterns: A User's Guide to Manipulation 2 The Digital Persuasion Engine - Part 2: The Surveillance Nudge 3 The Digital Persuasion Engine - Part 3: Trapped in the Feed 4 The Digital Persuasion Engine - Part 4: The Slot Machine in Your Pocket ← Series Home The Unavoidable Architecture of Digital Life The digital environment is fundamentally non-neutral; every design choice, from default settings to button placement, inevitably influences human behavior. This unavoidable structuring is known as choice architecture. When this power is harnessed for commercial ends through the constant collection and monetization of personal data, it becomes the surveillance nudge. Companies leverage this ubiquitous architecture to steer individual choices toward directions that maximize their own revenue and growth objectives. ...

Human Factory Settings: The Psychology of Conviction and Influence 1 Human Factory Settings - Part 1: The Chemistry of Conviction: Why We Are Wired to Be Swindled 2 Human Factory Settings - Part 2: Your Mind's Blind Spots: The Illusion of Rational Choice 3 Human Factory Settings - Part 3: The Charisma Algorithm: The Six Pillars of Influence ← Series Home The Illusion of Omniscient Choice The traditional economic view posits the ideal decision-maker—Homo economicus (Econ)—as a dispassionate, objective actor who makes faultless forecasts and rational choices, unfailingly optimizing outcomes by diligently weighing all evidence. This model, which often shapes policy prescriptions, assumes that if citizens are simply given the widest possible range of choices, they will naturally select the best possible outcome for themselves. Yet, decades of evidence demonstrate that this vision is a profound fiction. Humans are routinely fooled by visual illusions and predictable cognitive biases, confirming that our subjective reality diverges sharply and systematically from flawless calculation. ...