Review by New York Times Review
MY SELF-JUSTIFICATIONS were feeble. They could be described as hypocritical even. I had written a book denouncing Facebook, yet maintained an account on Mark Zuckerberg's manipulation machine. Despite my comprehensive awareness of the perils, I would occasionally indulge in the voyeurism of the News Feed, succumb to zombie scrolling and would take the hit of dopamine that Sean Parker, Facebook's founding president, has admitted is baked into the product. In internal monologues, I explained my behavior as a professional necessity. How could I describe the perniciousness of the platform if I never used it? Critics of the big technology companies have refrained from hectoring users to quit social media. It's far more comfortable to slam a corporate leviathan than it is to shame your aunt or high school pals - or, for that matter, to jettison your own long list of "friends." As our informational ecosystem has been rubbished, we have placed very little onus on the more than two billion users of Facebook and Twitter. So I'm grateful to Jaron Lanier for redistributing blame on the lumpen-user, for pressing the public to flee social media. He writes, "If you're not part of the solution, there will be no solution." Over the past year, a backlash against the big tech companies has arrived suddenly and unexpectedly. But Lanier has been there for a long time. During the 1980s, he helped invent virtual reality. Because of his immersion in technology and his integrity as a thinker, he saw the perils of corporate concentration in technology before most; he knew that the data amassed by these companies could be used to exploit the psychic weaknesses of users. In the early years of this decade, he published two excellent books - "You Are Not a Gadget" and "Who Owns the Future?" - that were strident, lucid and personable. Books about technology often quickly come to feel like a flip-phone, antiquated and destined for the intellectual junk drawer. But Lanier's books have aged marvelously. His latest manifesto, "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now," is, alas, less polished. It makes important arguments, but Lanier has pressed many of them several times before. While Lanier has shown a capacity for wit, this book is hokey. He's enthralled by his coinage of the acronym "BUMMER," which stands for "Behaviors of Users Modified, and Made Into an Empire for Rent." Instead of slamming Facebook and Google by name, he endlessly refers to them as "BUMMER" companies. There's a laziness to his polemic: a lack of examples, arguments that unfold much too quickly to gather their full powers of persuasion, writing that chokes on excessive metaphor. Over the course of three pages, he uses lead paint, climate change and crude oil to describe the workings of the BUMMER machine. Many of his criticisms of social media will feel familiar to distant observers of American politics. Twitter and Facebook have made us cruder, less empathetic, more tribal. Only at the very end does Lanier venture into new territory. His argument, however, is a profound one. He worries that our reliance on big tech companies is ruining our capacity for spirituality, by turning us into robotic extensions of their machines. The companies, he argues, have no appreciation for the "mystical spark inside you." They don't understand the magic of human consciousness and, therefore, will recklessly destroy it. Whatever the flaws of this short manifesto, Lanier shows the tactical value of appealing to the conscience of the individual. In the face of his earnest argument, I felt a piercing shame about my own presence on Facebook. I heeded his plea and deleted my account. ? Twitter and Facebook have made us cruder, less empathetic, more tribal. FRANKLIN FOER is a national correspondent at The Atlantic and the author of "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 8, 2018]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Virtual reality pioneer Lanier (Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality) tediously reiterates well-known pitfalls of social media, arguing that the major platforms are manipulating users' thoughts, goading their inner trolls, tearing society apart, and just generally making everyone unhappy. Lanier, a Silicon Valley insider, spells out his arguments against social media in 10 breezy chapters with titles like "You Are Losing Your Free Will" and "Social Media Is Making Politics Impossible." His underlying argument takes aim at the business models behind popular platforms like Facebook and Google that enable third-party actors such as advertisers-to pay to modify users' behavior using personalized, continuously adjusted stimuli. Unfortunately, his short treatise is overridden with shallow political commentary (as when he refers to Trump as a victim of Twitter) and scant analysis of critical issues (he's quick to dismiss the role of social media in the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the Arab Spring uprisings). Baseless generalizations and vague platitudes undermine the author's case, which is particularly unfortunate given his experience and expertise in the world he skewers. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In a book whose title says it all, technoprophet Lanier (Dawn of the New Everything, 2017, etc.) weighs in against predatory technoprofit.In a world of dogs, it's better to be a cat. So, in this brief polemic, writes the author, who uses the animal terms advisedly: Dogs are easily trained to respond to stimuli, as Ivan Pavlov knew; humans are as easily trained, la B.F. Skinner, when given proper rewards. "Dog whistles," Lanier adds meaningfully, "can only be heard by dogs." Cats, on the other hand, live in the world while somehow not being quite of it, a model for anyone seeking to get out of the grasp of algorithms and maybe go outside for a calming walk. The metaphor has value. So does the acronym BUMMER, which Lanier coins to sum up the many pieces of his argument: "Behavior of Users Modified, and Made into an Empire for Rent." It's a little clunky, but the author scores points with more direct notes: "E," he writes, "is for Earning money from letting the worst assholes secretly screw with everyone else." As we're learning from the unfolding story of Cambridge Analytica, which just filed for bankruptcy, he's got a point. Lanier advocates untethering from social media, which fosters addiction and anomie and generally makes us feel worse and more fearful about each other and the world. Continuing the dog metaphor, itLanier uses "media" as a singular noun, which, considering its monolithic nature, may no longer send grammarians screamingalso encourages pack behavior, howling at strangers and sounds in the night. His central objection, though, would seem to be this: "We have enshrined the belief that the only way to finance a connection between two people is through a third person who is paying to manipulate them." If we accept that, then it's self-evident why one would want to unplug.The experiment could be a useful one, though it will darken the hearts of the dark lordsa winning argument all its own. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
