Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook8 hours
World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech
Written by Franklin Foer
Narrated by Marc Cashman
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Franklin Foer reveals the existential threat posed by big tech, and in his brilliant polemic gives us the toolkit to fight their pervasive influence.
Over the past few decades there has been a revolution in terms of who controls knowledge and information. This rapid change has imperiled the way we think. Without pausing to consider the cost, the world has rushed to embrace the products and services of four titanic corporations. We shop with Amazon; socialize on Facebook; turn to Apple for entertainment; and rely on Google for information. These firms sell their efficiency and purport to make the world a better place, but what they have done instead is to enable an intoxicating level of daily convenience. As these companies have expanded, marketing themselves as champions of individuality and pluralism, their algorithms have pressed us into conformity and laid waste to privacy. They have produced an unstable and narrow culture of misinformation, and put us on a path to a world without private contemplation, autonomous thought, or solitary introspection—a world without mind. In order to restore our inner lives, we must avoid being coopted by these gigantic companies, and understand the ideas that underpin their success.
Elegantly tracing the intellectual history of computer science—from Descartes and the enlightenment to Alan Turing to Stuart Brand and the hippie origins of today's Silicon Valley—Foer exposes the dark underpinnings of our most idealistic dreams for technology. The corporate ambitions of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, he argues, are trampling longstanding liberal values, especially intellectual property and privacy. This is a nascent stage in the total automation and homogenization of social, political, and intellectual life. By reclaiming our private authority over how we intellectually engage with the world, we have the power to stem the tide.
At stake is nothing less than who we are, and what we will become. There have been monopolists in the past but today's corporate giants have far more nefarious aims. They're monopolists who want access to every facet of our identities and influence over every corner of our decision-making. Until now few have grasped the sheer scale of the threat. Foer explains not just the looming existential crisis but the imperative of resistance.
Over the past few decades there has been a revolution in terms of who controls knowledge and information. This rapid change has imperiled the way we think. Without pausing to consider the cost, the world has rushed to embrace the products and services of four titanic corporations. We shop with Amazon; socialize on Facebook; turn to Apple for entertainment; and rely on Google for information. These firms sell their efficiency and purport to make the world a better place, but what they have done instead is to enable an intoxicating level of daily convenience. As these companies have expanded, marketing themselves as champions of individuality and pluralism, their algorithms have pressed us into conformity and laid waste to privacy. They have produced an unstable and narrow culture of misinformation, and put us on a path to a world without private contemplation, autonomous thought, or solitary introspection—a world without mind. In order to restore our inner lives, we must avoid being coopted by these gigantic companies, and understand the ideas that underpin their success.
Elegantly tracing the intellectual history of computer science—from Descartes and the enlightenment to Alan Turing to Stuart Brand and the hippie origins of today's Silicon Valley—Foer exposes the dark underpinnings of our most idealistic dreams for technology. The corporate ambitions of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, he argues, are trampling longstanding liberal values, especially intellectual property and privacy. This is a nascent stage in the total automation and homogenization of social, political, and intellectual life. By reclaiming our private authority over how we intellectually engage with the world, we have the power to stem the tide.
At stake is nothing less than who we are, and what we will become. There have been monopolists in the past but today's corporate giants have far more nefarious aims. They're monopolists who want access to every facet of our identities and influence over every corner of our decision-making. Until now few have grasped the sheer scale of the threat. Foer explains not just the looming existential crisis but the imperative of resistance.
Unavailable
Author
Franklin Foer
Franklin Foer is the editor of The New Republic. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Related to World Without Mind
Related audiobooks
The Know-It-Alls: The Rise of Silicon Valley as a Political Powerhouse and Social Wrecking Ball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Tech Tyrants: How Silicon Valley's Stealth Practices Addict Teens, Silence Speech and Steal Your Privacy Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Monster: A Tough Love Letter On Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives, and Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SUMMARY - World Without Mind: The Existential Threat Of Big Tech By Franklin Foer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Human Algorithm: How Artificial Intelligence Is Redefining Who We Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is This Wi-Fi Organic?: A Guide to Spotting Misleading Science Online Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Humanity Reimagined: Where We Go From Here Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeading the Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech's Empathy Problem and How to Fix It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solomon's Code Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art Of Conjuring Alternate Realities: How Information Warfare Shapes Your World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAverage Joe: Be the Silicon Valley Tech Genius Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Planet Powered by AI: How We Use Artificial Intelligence to Create a Sustainable Future for Humanity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCult Status Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUtopia Is Creepy: And Other Provocations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stuff They Don't Want You to Know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Silicon States: The Power and Politics of Big Tech and What It Means for Our Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing With Robots: The 29 Strategies for Success In the Age of AI and Automation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for World Without Mind
Rating: 3.727272727272727 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
33 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Franklin Foer writes about the idealism of tech companies and the ways in which their idealism is doing harm. Specifically he's worried about the depressed value of knowledge and the degrading impact of the Internet on journalism and writing. The book certainly makes one uneasy about big tech. Foer is very readable, although sometimes he doesn't quite make his point.