James Carse writes about how machines are controlling us in "Finite and Infinite Games"
Here are some quotes. There is some more in the book and some of it is (imo) quite a bit over the top.
Interesting thoughts,though.
> While a machine greatly aids the operator in such tasks,
it also disciplines its operator. As the machine might be considered the extended arms and legs of the worker, the worker might be considered an extension of the machine. All machines, and especially very complicated machines, require operators to place themselves in a provided location and to perform
functions mechanically adapted to the functions of the machine. To use the machine for control is to be controlled
by the machine.
(Apart from cars, the relationship between people and their smartphone comes to my mind)
>[..] We do not purchase an automobile, for example, merely
to own some machinery. Indeed, it is not machinery we are
buying at all, but what we can have by way of it: a means
of rapidly carrying us from one location to another, an object
of envy for others, protection from the weather.
> I cannot use machinery without using it with another. I
do not talk on the telephone; I talk with someone on the
telephone. I listen to someone on the radio, drive to visit a
friend, compute business transactions. To the degree that my
association with you depends on such machinery, the connecting medium makes each of us an extension of itself. If your
business activities cannot translate into data recognizable by
my computer, I can have no business with you. If you do
not live where I can drive to see you, I will find another
friend. In each case your relationship to me does not depend
on my needs but on the needs of my machinery.
If to operate a machine is to operate like a machine, then
we not only operate with each other like machines, we operate
each other like machines. And if a machine is most effective
when it has no effect, then we operate each other in such a
way that we reach the outcome desired-in such a way that
nothing happens. [...]
> While a machine greatly aids the operator in such tasks, it also disciplines its operator. As the machine might be considered the extended arms and legs of the worker, the worker might be considered an extension of the machine. All machines, and especially very complicated machines, require operators to place themselves in a provided location and to perform functions mechanically adapted to the functions of the machine. To use the machine for control is to be controlled by the machine.
(Apart from cars, the relationship between people and their smartphone comes to my mind)
>[..] We do not purchase an automobile, for example, merely to own some machinery. Indeed, it is not machinery we are buying at all, but what we can have by way of it: a means of rapidly carrying us from one location to another, an object of envy for others, protection from the weather.
> I cannot use machinery without using it with another. I do not talk on the telephone; I talk with someone on the telephone. I listen to someone on the radio, drive to visit a friend, compute business transactions. To the degree that my association with you depends on such machinery, the connecting medium makes each of us an extension of itself. If your business activities cannot translate into data recognizable by my computer, I can have no business with you. If you do not live where I can drive to see you, I will find another friend. In each case your relationship to me does not depend on my needs but on the needs of my machinery. If to operate a machine is to operate like a machine, then we not only operate with each other like machines, we operate each other like machines. And if a machine is most effective when it has no effect, then we operate each other in such a way that we reach the outcome desired-in such a way that nothing happens. [...]