In the novel, Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff specifically highlights all the elements present today that Lewis tries to warn readers about in The Abolition of Man, therefore connecting both authors’ overarching theme of the dangers of blindly accepting advancements without question. Zuboff begins by describing the term surveillance capitalism, which gains from the analysis of behavioral data through methods that are created to foster ‘radical indifference’(379). Zuboff makes it clear companies like Google and Facebook, who are prime examples of surveillance capitalism, are parasitic to society. Zuboff continues in further detail about the severity of her worries explaining how little surveillance companies care about their consumers. While these companies may be dependent on human use of their product, they feel little remorse for the control they obtain over their autonomy. Essentially, these companies exploit human free will as a tactic to get what they want. They strive to condition society through technology to be able to predict their habits and needs so that profit can be made from them. Oftentimes these large companies speak vaguely when publicly speaking about its power structure, telling society to “simply trust the founders” (122). Companies similar to Google and Facebook monopolize how they are viewed due to their true underlying goals that they do not want the public to know about.
It is precisely this rapid advancement in science and technology that Lewis cautioned against. Just like in That Hideous Strength, the institution NICE is originally viewed as beneficial and supportive to the community, but it is later learned the institution strives to control their lives through propaganda. Lewis depicts NICE in a sneaky, manipulative way to allude to the true dangers of blind obedience. To the employees of NICE “[making] man a really efficient animal through science” (39) is how they aim to control the population and make it more coherent. Such shaping and alteration of the human mind is considered dispicable to Lewis, who despised the idea of humans seeking power over nature (The Abolition of Man). This depiction of NICE is parallel to the surveillance companies Zuboff describes since both companies hide their true intentions through propaganda. Neither Google nor NICE truly care who or how they affect people, both employ aggressive, persuasive, or economic tactics to get what they desire. Zuboff emphasizes how human nature is subtly being molded and shifted by higher authorities such as these companies. This reality is exactly why Lewis suggests in his novel, The Abolition of Man, humans don’t immediately trust all scientific advancements. Ultimately, both NICE and Google have very similar mindsets and attempt to create false positive images to get what they want, which is very detrimental to the evolution of our society.