Twenty-five years after the Cold War, a new one is unfolding in our societies. During the original Cold War, a model of man emerged, characterized by self-interest and manipulation: the modern homo oeconomicus. Instead of being discarded, this model evolved to fit the needs of the twenty-first century, becoming the orchestrator of information capitalism. This figure seeks to read, control, and influence thoughts, using computer algorithms and Big Data to predict preferences and sell goods. As a result, stock-market trading is now driven by this model, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy where individuals lose control over their own destinies. The Game of Life operates independently of personal agency. The author traces the evolution of this extreme rationalization from the Cold War strategies of the 1950s to the trading techniques that contributed to the 2008 financial crash, linking these developments to the rise of game theory, rational choice theory, and neoliberal economics. Politics and the state increasingly conform to the logic of computerized game theory, sidestepping genuine decision-making. In this new reality, individuals, while believing they craft their own lives, are actually manipulated by those who dictate the rules, posing a significant threat to individual sovereignty and democratic institutions.
