Jaron Lanier has a new book, You Are Not a Gadget (NY Times review), which I have to add to my reading list and bump up a few notches. There is an excerpt from it in the February issue of Harper’s: “The Serfdom of Crowds.” He’s writing along the lines of some of what I have been blogging about here, but from the perspective of an early tech industry insider. Also, he is an amazingly writerly writer for someone with his background…
I was turned on to this book by a friend who is a professional photographer out in Oakland, CA and has mixed feelings about Web 2.0 as it impacts her profession. Currently reading a copy I checked out from my local branch library.
I did have to chuckle a little at one of the jacket blurbs: “What happens when we stop shaping technology, and technology begins shaping us.”; Really? Neil Postman has been saying that for YEARS and Lanier is just now catching on…?
Ah well, better late than never. Very insightful book so far, though; very much in the same vein of critical approaches to technology that Library Juice readers already know well.
Comment by JJR — March 16, 2010 @ 10:43 am