work

The Office of Control has compiled a library of 42 models that enable control and coercion by exploiting human psychology.

precedent

The social, political and economic models are derived from research in social psychology, behavioral economics, and critical theory. Their names may differ from the original studies they reference, condensed for accessibility and application. 

This is not theoretical work. These mechanisms all exist. They have historical precedent and are deployed now, in marketing, technology, retail, in government policy and institutional design, in immigration enforcement, welfare administration, criminal justice, and population management. 

The distillate of our souls, the blueprints of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, has been templated, productized and set against us. 

in our world

The examples in our current age of populism are many:

Politicians using “Us versus them" divisions and Enemy Image Construction—e.g. Muslim travel bans, as divisive signaling. 

Populists hearkening back to National Mythic Moments: "Make America Great Again" and Battle of Britain nostalgia dream back to imagined ages that included internment and civil liberties erosion. 

Contemporary far-right propaganda targets young men, who are all neurologically predisposed to risk-taking and susceptible to violent messaging. 

And conspiracy theories—QAnon, Pizzagate—emerge when disenfranchised groups blame hidden elites, deepening their own alienation and widening cultural bifurcation.

born of fire

Many of the models stemmed from trying to understand our darkest modern moments.

Authority Induced Obedience, derived from Milgram's experiments where subjects administered electric shocks to unseen victims when instructed by authority figures, was itself built on the genuine shock and curiosity about how humans in WW2 claiming to be "just following orders" could commit atrocities.

Psychologists wanted to answer: what makes these orders so easy—or perhaps, given their alignment with basic human psychology, so natural—to carry out?

blueprints

This is one of the profound dangers of these models. 

We are pre-wired for coercion. 

The mechanisms work because they exploit how we think, how we perceive fairness, how we respond to authority, how we process threats.

Because the models are baked into and built upon our own psychologies, they are simple and natural for humans to unwittingly follow. 

containment 

The collection is ever-expanding. The library is kept as a database, continuously updated as new mechanisms are identified or historical patterns clarified. 

But it will not be shown in its entirety. 

The gathering of these models and making them accessible raises profound ethical questions. These models will be used within artworks rather than sold for general distribution. 

We do not want this concentrated information—these frameworks for othering, these mechanisms of population control—weaponsed by right-wing influencers and propagandists.

While these models are comparatively new, developed in the last century, they exploit timeless human psychology. 

We all carry the human vulnerability of ancient wiring—these models hack us, providing hooks and puppet strings to those who wish to exploit.

Whilst the discovery of the models is at best scientific progress, and at worst, a Promethean tragedy, the activation of our minds is a cynical act. 

Therefore, the models are unlikely to be shown all at the same time. Perhaps under supervision in the future. But not yet. Right now, audiences will be allowed a glimpse of the models that make up The Office of Control's canon. 

But only a glimpse. 

The models are clues to a wisdom both ancient and modern, developed by a few, innate in everyone, and an existential risk to us all.