Trailer - From Iliad Brutality to Dark Data: Tracking the History of Control

This episode embarks on a historical deep dive to connect ancient power dynamics with modern technological control. The journey begins with extreme power and conflict, from the visceral brutality of the Iliad, where Achilles called Agamemnon a "bloated drunk", to the horror of slavery, described by Frederick Douglass as the "blood-stained gate to the hell of slavery". The focus then shifts to how ruling powers persist, whether through Augustus's mastery of hiding military authority behind familiar republican titles, or through the historical ignorance of early American scholars who portrayed Native societies as static and "changeless".

The theme of power is then traced into economic exploitation, as exemplified by the 18th-century slave trade, where British traders acted as "honorable slave carriers" for half a million enslaved people. This history of control through physical force and political maneuvering has now pivoted to control through data extraction, known as surveillance capitalism. The core driver of this modern system is the prediction imperative—the economic need to constantly gather data not just to see what users do, but to predict and subtly modify their future behavior for profit.

This search for control has expanded into what is chillingly termed the "dark data continent". This goes beyond mere clicks and likes to mining the user's inner life—their moods, emotions, and intentions. The overall progression shows that the methods of control have changed dramatically, from legions and brute force to economic exploitation and, now, subtle algorithms. The constant in this long history is the persistent struggle between power and vulnerability, leaving a final question: what is the highest value being legitimized today by this massive collection and mining of our inner lives?