So that’s where I’m going to leave it. Mostly because I am not quite sure where else to take it. Hopefully by now, you understand the value in Hegel’s triad (which is not actually Hegel’s triad, but we’re fine calling it that). And hopefully you recognize the importance of breaking down the master/slave dialectic (which is not really called the master/slave dialectic but that’s also fine).

Most importantly, though, I want to make sure you see why the power held over us by algorithmically driven corporations is a new kind of power, at least in the corporate realm. It’s a power that obscures not only its own dangers but the means to subverting it. Whereas we may have sought ways to move from slaves to masters, we no longer see a reason to — we are in control of our own data, we are in control of our purchases, in control of what we see and what we feel.

On the homepage of 23andMe, there’s a headline that reads “We bring the world of genetics to you.” Never mind that you literally spit into a test-tube and mail it off to them in order to get your data back, the company also brings your genetics to many others. This kind of reality deserves more than a reaction to what “technology is doing to us” and it needs a more nuanced description than “creepy”. We need new “things” — things that aren’t more consumer products — to break the master’s spell.