The theory of alienation provides a diagnosis of the ailments of capitalism, at least as to how it existed in the 19th century. However, since the 19th century, the state of affairs has greatly worsened. Today, due to the advent of tracking human behavior through technological devices, we find ourselves even more alienated from our species-essence than ever before. Alienation is the separation of an essential attribute of one’s self from themselves, generally that attribute being the “conditions of meaningful agency.” There are four forms of alienation: alienation from the product of labor, from the activity of labor, from the self, and from other people. Each theory helps to explain how we have become more alienated from our personhood due to the behavior generating quality of algorithmic technology.

Finally, we turn to alienation from other people. Alienation must exist in relation to another person, so when something is alienated, it must belong to another person. Under a capitalist system, every human is either a “useful or threatening object”—an obstacle or a rival. The capitalist gains money from the worker and the worker needs the capitalist to provide a method of sustenance. So it is the same from the prospective of the tracker, whether private or the state. The corporate tracker sees each human as accumulated data, a useful object, to which they can control. The state tracker sees each human behavior as a potential threat, something which they “need” to control or risk losing the ability to listen to everyone. But, even then there is more. Users have also become more alienated from each other. We see the threat of beautiful people on social media and so viewers try to mitigate this threat through consumption of beauty products pushed on them by the corporate tracker. We see an influencer in Monaco and are threatened by the ostentatious display of wealth we would love nothing more to copy, and so Delta’s cheapest flight there makes a miraculous entrance into our social media feed. Moreover, we see fewer people face to face than ever before, relying on Zoom or FaceTime? to chat with our family. We are more alienated from society, from humanity, than ever before.