What do Facebook, Google, and TikTok really see when they look at us — and what do they miss?

In this episode of Singularity.FM, Nikola Danaylov (aka Socrates) interviews Petter Törnberg, Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science at the University of Amsterdam and co-author of Seeing Like a Platform: An Inquiry into the Condition of Digital Modernity.

Together they explore:

How platforms have become the new eyes of power

Why algorithms don’t just mirror society — they reshape it

The dangers of algorithmic tyranny and invisible control

The shift from industrial modernity to digital modernity

Why self-organization often hides new forms of hierarchy

Whether AI will become the ultimate platform of platforms

How citizens, activists, and policymakers can still resist

📘 Petter’s books:

Seeing Like a Platform (2025)

Intimate Communities of Hate (2024)

You can watch the full video recording here: https://www.singularityweblog.com/petter-tornberg/

Petter Törnberg: Algorithmic Tyranny & Digital Modernity

Singularity.FM is the first and best known singularity podcast - the place where we interview the future. 

Singularity.FM is a series of singularity podcast interviews with the best scientists, writers, entrepreneurs, film-makers, philosophers and artists, debating issues such as the technological singularity, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, life-extension and ethics.

Past guests of this singularity podcast include people such as Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Noam Chomsky, Stuart Hameroff, Marvin Minsky, Aubrey de Grey, Max More, Michio Kaku, Vernor Vinge, Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross and many, many others.