Skinner concluded that the literature of freedom and dignity “stands in the way of further human achievement.” He argued that the missing puzzle piece holding back the urgent development of the “instruments and methods” essential for a technology of behavior was the stubborn allegiance to these antique notions among people determined to preserve “due credit” for their actions. The belief in “autonomous man” is a regressive source of resistance to a rational future, an “alternative explanation of behavior” that obstructs the advancement of society.

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 1171