Irrespective of Cambridge Analytica’s actual competence and its ultimate political impact, the plotting and planning behind its ambitions are testament to the pivotal role of rendition from the depths in the prediction and modification of behavior, always in pursuit of certainty. Billionaires such as Zuckerberg and Mercer have discovered that they can muscle their way to dominance of the division of learning in society by setting their sights on these rendition operations and the fortunes they tell. They aim to be unchallenged in their power to know, to decide who knows, and to decide who decides. The rendition of “personality” was an important milestone in this quest: a frontier, yes, but not the final frontier.

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 877