The Battle for Thought

When one of his articles goes viral, Simon McCarthy-Jones finds himself, at all hours of the day and night, having the thought ‘check Facebook’. But was it really his thought? How often do you think of something, only for your computer spookily to feed you just the right ad. Or Google a ‘unique’ question, only for autocomplete to get there well ahead. In The Battle for Thought, psychologist Simon McCarthy-Jones unpicks the research into how our minds work and how it’s being used to manipulate us for corporate profit. He investigates what is meant by freedom of thought – a human right frequently invoked, but rarely defined.