Here comes one of his ghosts to torture me. For carefully bringing in wood. I’ll be a failure. Maybe he won’t mind if I bother him. Caliban, a character who is frequently seen as a symbol of the colonial peoples of the New World, makes his debut in Act 2 of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” The exploitation and tyranny of colonized peoples might be compared to Prospero’s subjection of Caliban, who is thought to symbolize the colonial powers. “I’ll show thee the best springs. I’ll pluck thee berries. I’ll fish for thee and get thee wood enough. A plague upon the tyrant that I serve,” (Act II Scene II). The concept of exploitation and subjugation can be used to make a connection to Shoshana Zuboff’s book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.” According to Zuboff, the leading tech corporations have made their fortunes by secretly gathering and analyzing enormous volumes of consumer personal data. This is similar to the way that colonizing powers exploited the resources and labor of colonized peoples for their own benefit. With the help of targeted advertising and other behavioral manipulation techniques, this data is subsequently used to turn consumers into a marketable commodity. “It is no longer enough to automate information flows about us; the goal now is to automate us,” (Zuboff 14). Whether it is Prospero or the computer industry, those in power oppress both Caliban and the current internet user and use them for their labor or data. Claims of superiority or necessity, such as Prospero’s assertion that he is educating and civilizing Caliban or tech corporations’ assertion that their services are necessary to modern life, are used to justify the exploitation. Why these power relations are so dangerous can be partially explained by the psychology of totalitarianism. Totalitarian governments rely on complete population control, frequently accomplished via the employment of propaganda and other psychological tactics. Similar to how the internet firms in “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” exploit customers with targeted advertising and other psychological tricks. Individual autonomy and independence may be lost as a result of these strategies when people have a greater propensity to react to other pressures. Even if he finally fails, Caliban struggles against Prospero’s rule and makes an effort to assert his own independence in “The Tempest.” Resistance to authoritarian governments frequently includes this fight for autonomy as well.
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