The phrase “behavioral surplus” is central to the subject of Shoshana Zuboff’s 2019 book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.” The author is a professor emerita at the Harvard Business School. Here is Zuboff’s description of the term in the book’s Introduction:
“Surveillance capitalism unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data. Although some of these data are applied to product or service improvement, the rest are declared as proprietary ‘behavioral surplus,’ fed into advanced manufacturing processes known as ‘machine intelligence,’ and fabricated into ‘prediction products’ that anticipate what you will do now, sooner and later. Finally, these prediction products are traded in a new kind of marketplace for behavioral predictions that I call ‘behavioral futures markets.’” (Terms highlighted with single quote marks are italicized in the original.)
Because of the way the term is discussed in the book it’s likely it originated early this century in the bowels of Google as the company searched for a way to reliably monetize their search engine. They found one.
“Surveillance capitalism unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data. Although some of these data are applied to product or service improvement, the rest are declared as proprietary ‘behavioral surplus,’ fed into advanced manufacturing processes known as ‘machine intelligence,’ and fabricated into ‘prediction products’ that anticipate what you will do now, sooner and later. Finally, these prediction products are traded in a new kind of marketplace for behavioral predictions that I call ‘behavioral futures markets.’” (Terms highlighted with single quote marks are italicized in the original.)
Because of the way the term is discussed in the book it’s likely it originated early this century in the bowels of Google as the company searched for a way to reliably monetize their search engine. They found one.
“The shift of economies of scope defines a new set of aims: behavioral surplus must be vast, but it must also be varied.” ibid., p 199
by ex PFC Chuck April 21, 2021
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James: You mean behaviour?
Ron: Huh? Why do you English people have the extra vowel in there? It doesn’t make sense!
James: The extra vowel, in most cases, is silent, but American brains can’t handle the extra task in figuring that out. Plus, that’s the original English way we’ve always spelled behaviour, but thanks to Noah Webster, he decided to get creative, one day, and misspell our words. That’s very unoriginal!
Ron: I thought English came from America?
James: ENG-lish came from ENG-land, way before America was even a country.
Ron: Whatever, bye!
James: You mean behaviour?
Ron: Huh? Why do you English people have the extra vowel in there? It doesn’t make sense!
James: The extra vowel, in most cases, is silent, but American brains can’t handle the extra task in figuring that out. Plus, that’s the original English way we’ve always spelled behaviour, but thanks to Noah Webster, he decided to get creative, one day, and misspell our words. That’s very unoriginal!
Ron: I thought English came from America?
James: ENG-lish came from ENG-land, way before America was even a country.
Ron: Whatever, bye!
by Charles Wright June 20, 2012
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Killing of relatives, friends or loved ones for no apparent reason. Performed by scumbags who live in pan-handle areas of any state or region.
Small Town Murder has discovered Pan-Handle behavior based on the amount of murders that happen in pan-handles of various states.
by wandaful May 17, 2018
Get the Pan-handle behavior mug.acting like a man/woman on a mission to seek out a person(s) who is DTF. a person behaving this way will not limit themselves to just one person per instance and therefore is somewhat of a whore - that everybody seems to know in one way or another.
i can't talk right now i'm on some alfie behaviour i'll call you back later. too many fish in the sea.
by ertleb October 22, 2010
Get the alfie behaviour mug.Unlike the traditional use of the word loose, loose behaviour is a versatile word that can be used to describe someone that is a shady character, also it is a good or bad response from a person depending on the circumstances and actions involved.
1 - throwing the phone off the third story balcony at a hotel was loose behavior.
2 - You were so wasted last night your behavior was loose.
3 - Drinking underage in a manner that gets you and your friends arested.
2 - You were so wasted last night your behavior was loose.
3 - Drinking underage in a manner that gets you and your friends arested.
by Briscoe May 28, 2005
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Get the Fatherless behavior mug.This term refers to being on your best behavior when doing bad ass masculine shit like climbing rugged peaks so people put up with you and don't push you off a cliff.
There are many unspoken rules of good Expedition Behavior such as:
Don't fart in the tent.
Try to retain some hygiene- other people have to look at and smell you.
Don't be a lazy ass- carry your own weight.
Don't be cocky.
There are many unspoken rules of good Expedition Behavior such as:
Don't fart in the tent.
Try to retain some hygiene- other people have to look at and smell you.
Don't be a lazy ass- carry your own weight.
Don't be cocky.
Joe was not on his best Expedition Behavior. He chewed his ramen with his fucking mouth open, smelled like a rotten llama, and bitched about his hangnail while we were summiting the north face of K2. Therefore Joe is no longer with us- he never made it down the mountain and there were no witnesses.
by fuzzywuzzy242 November 15, 2010
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