[An excellent podcast taking in the origins of adtech, the difference between history and origins, the way any technology of prediction and understanding can become one of control and direction, the connections between advertising and insurance, the challenge of setting the terms of what you optimise (lots about Operations Research), and ‘risk is a metaphysical property’, and more…]

This Machine Kills

We are joined by Lee McGuigan — author of Selling the American People — to discuss the origins of advertising / adtech and how the ad industry has been deeply entangled with operations research and information technology since the 1940s, way longer than the usual stories of when advertising and technology joined together. As Lee’s work shows, the ad industry is a perfect case study for better understanding how the science / ideology of (algorithmic) optimization broke free from its confines in military strategy or economic planning and became a set of universal methods and solutions that should be applied everywhere.

328. The Universal Science of Advertisement (ft. Lee McGuigan)This Machine Kills 8 hours ago8 hours agoLikeRepostShareCopy LinkAdd to Next upMore 2,258 plays2,258This Machine Kills 886 followers886 349 tracks349FollowReportFollow This Machine Kills and others on SoundCloud.Sign inCreate a SoundCloud accountWe are joined by Lee McGuigan — author of Selling the American People — to discuss the origins of advertising / adtech and how the ad industry has been deeply entangled with operations research and information technology since the 1940s, way longer than the usual stories of when advertising and technology joined together. As Lee’s work shows, the ad industry is a perfect case study for better understanding how the science / ideology of (algorithmic) optimization broke free from its confines in military strategy or economic planning and became a set of universal methods and solutions that should be applied everywhere.

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