As we chat on the phone, or move and do things about the house, Alexa listens, observes and learns our preferences and habits. As it gets to know us, it develops an uncanny capacity to surprise us with good recommendations and intriguing ideas. Before we realise it, the system hiding behind Alexa has acquired substantial powers to curate our reality in order to guide our choices – effectively to command us. How is this different to what Draper did? Hugely, is the answer. Don had a talent to invent ways to instil manufactured desires in us. But it was a one-way street. Through the medium of
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