A history of power: Roopika Risam on the creation of data empires

[Celerity]

From the East India Company to Palantir, data-gathering technologies have always been used for profit and control

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/prospect-podcast/74044/a-history-of-power-roopika-risam-on-the-creation-of-data-empires

https://archive.ph/Bl0b4



https://shows.acast.com/cf7520d4-c0d5-4b36-8f12-a828c622fc14/6a4d05362c7bd0af20ec6692

This week, Ellen and Alona and joined by Roopika Risam, professor of Digital Humanities and Social Engagement at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, whose new book Data Empire explores the ancient roots of data-gathering and the rise of the “data state”.

Drawing on examples from the East India Company to Palantir, she explains why advances in technology—and our means to collect, sort and deploy data—have almost always been captured by colonial powers or companies for profit, rather than for public good.

She reveals how data is used to monitor and control, and how AI is rapidly accelerating the capacity of states and private companies to surveil populations, including against the Uyghur people of Xinjiang. Roopika also explains the disturbing reason she had to rewrite one section of the book three times

Has the “Data Empire” effectively moved beyond the reach of the democratic social contract? And will the future be dystopian—or is there another way?

Roopika Risam’s book “Data Empire: How information shaped human history” is published by Torva.