An assessment on rational expectations and perception engineering in the cyber-capitalist age

Abstract

In recent years, studies in economics have revealed that analyses in psychology, sociology, religion, and ethics have begun to describe trends in the markets, household preferences, entrepreneurships, and investor decisions. These studies are referred to be results of the critical dynamics put forward by the "Rational Expectations Theory." Although conditional rationality is widely assumed in economic analysis, the assumptions of rational expectations as a unique approach allow for new perspectives of bias on the perception engineering which is being realised through social media for both political or economic operations. Percepion engineering has become easy and widespread in this new age of cyber-capitalism in which artificilal intelligence (AI) based Management Information Systems (MIS) and IoT tend to dominate pervasively for economic, political or religious reasons. This study asserts that investment decisions, political tendencies and economic preferences may not be rational due to exposure to perception engineering through innovative technology of algorithms and social media. Therefore, in today's cyber-capitalist ecosystems, the generation of manipulated social consent has been incredibly enhanced by hacking, collecting, accumulating, changing, controlling, and disseminating information for propaganda and marketing purposes over social media. In this multidiscipinary study, perception engineering that has become a part of artificial intelligence-assisted social engineering processes, is concluded to be the key spoiler of rational expectations of economic agents. In this context, possible measures are developed and suggested.