Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America

by Christopher Wylie

It was the first time I was allowed to explore ideas without the constraints of petty internal politics or people snubbing an idea just because it had never been tried before. As much as Nix was a dick, he did give me a lot of leeway to try out new ideas. After Kogan joined, I had professors at the University of Cambridge constantly fawning over the groundbreaking potential that the project could have for advancing psychology and sociology, which made me feel like I was on a mission. And if their colleagues at universities like Harvard or Stanford were also getting interested in our work, I thought that surely we must be onto something. The institute that Kogan proposed really was an inspiring idea to me, and I saw how unlocking this data for researchers around the world could contribute so much value to so many fields. As corny as this might sound, it really felt like I was working on something important—not just for Mercer or the company, but for science. However, I let this feeling distract me to the point of allowing myself to excuse the inexcusable. I told myself that truly learning about society includes delving into uncomfortable questions about our darker sides. How could we understand racial bias, authoritarianism, or misogyny if we did not explore them? What I did not appreciate is the fine line between exploring something and actually creating it. Bannon had assumed control of the company, and he was an ambitious and surprisingly sophisticated cultural warrior. ...