You Are Not a Gadget
A Manifesto
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Narrated by:
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Rob Shapiro
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By:
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Jaron Lanier
About this listen
Jaron Lanier, a Silicon Valley visionary since the 1980s, was among the first to predict the revolutionary changes the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture. Now, in his first book, written more than two decades after the web was created, Lanier offers this provocative and cautionary look at the way it is transforming our lives for better and for worse.
The current design and function of the web have become so familiar that it is easy to forget that they grew out of programming decisions made decades ago. The web’s first designers made crucial choices (such as making one’s presence anonymous) that have had enormous - and often unintended - consequences. What’s more, these designs quickly became “locked in”, a permanent part of the web’s very structure. Lanier discusses the technical and cultural problems that can grow out of poorly considered digital design and warns that our financial markets and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter are elevating the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and judgment of individuals. Lanier also shows:
- How 1960s antigovernment paranoia influenced the design of the online world and enabled trolling and trivialization in online discourse
- How file sharing is killing the artistic middle class
- How a belief in a technological “rapture” motivates some of the most influential technologists
- Why a new humanistic technology is necessary.
Controversial and fascinating, You Are Not a Gadget is a deeply felt defense of the individual from an author uniquely qualified to comment on the way technology interacts with our culture.
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Breakpoint
- Why the Web Will Implode, Search Will Be Obsolete, and Everything Else You Need to Know About Technology Is in Your Brain
- By: Jeff Stibel
- Narrated by: Robert David Grant
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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We are living in a world in which cows send texts to farmers when they're in heat, where the most valuable real estate in New York City houses computers, not people, and some of humanity's greatest works are created by crowds, not individuals. We are in the midst of a networking revolution - set to transform the way we access the world's information and the way we connect with one another. Studying biological systems is perhaps the best way to understand such networks, and nature has a lesson for us if we care to listen: Bigger is rarely better in the long run.
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Meh
- By Customer on 12-07-14
By: Jeff Stibel
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Whiplash
- How to Survive Our Faster Future
- By: Joi Ito, Jeff Howe
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, not only is everything digital getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, we also have the Internet. When these two revolutions - one in technology and the other in communications - joined, an explosive force was unleashed that changed the very nature of innovation. And with any change, we have seen many strategic blunders and extraordinary learning curves along the way.
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Just general advice on how to survive
- By A. Yoshida on 09-01-17
By: Joi Ito, and others
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World Without Mind
- The Existential Threat of Big Tech
- By: Franklin Foer
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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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.
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5-Star Book with a 1-Star Title
- By David Larson on 09-18-17
By: Franklin Foer
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Virus of the Mind
- The New Science of the Meme
- By: Richard Brodie
- Narrated by: Richard Brodie
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Virus of the Mind is the first popular work devoted to the science of memetics, a controversial new field that transcends psychology, biology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Memetics is the science of memes, the invisible but very real DNA of human society. Here, the author carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives.
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The "Memes Explain Everything" Meme.
- By Nelson Alexander on 02-20-10
By: Richard Brodie
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Freedom Evolves
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers "yes!" Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments - drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy - that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally.
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I knew I was going to like this book
- By Gary on 05-30-14
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The Shallows
- What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
- By: Nicholas Carr
- Narrated by: Richard Powers
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Weaving insights from philosophy, neuroscience, and history into a rich narrative, The Shallows explains how the internet is rerouting our neural pathways, replacing the subtle mind of the book reader with the distracted mind of the screen watcher. A gripping story of human transformation played out against a backdrop of technological upheaval, The Shallows will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.
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It is not consistant, so it is frustrating.
- By Adam Shields on 08-03-12
By: Nicholas Carr
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Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Jeff Crawford
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Over a storied career, Daniel C. Dennett has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. His answers have combined rigorous argument with strong empirical grounding. And a lot of fun. Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking offers seventy-seven of Dennett’s most successful “imagination-extenders and focus-holders” meant to guide you through some of life’s most treacherous subject matter: evolution, meaning, mind, and free will.
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Loved it, but some philosophy background needed.
- By LongerILiveLessIKnow on 11-14-13
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Superminds
- The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together
- By: Thomas W. Malone
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Many people today are so dazzled by the long-term potential for artificial intelligence that they overlook the much clearer and more immediate potential for a new form of "collective intelligence": the intelligence of groups of people and computers working together. In Superminds, Thomas Malone explains what we need to do to take advantage of this potential. Groundbreaking and utterly fascinating, Superminds will change the way you work - both with others and with computers - for the better.
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"Why did a Kenyan immigrant win the 2008 election"
- By RealTruth on 07-11-18
By: Thomas W. Malone
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The Future of the Professions
- How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts
- By: Richard Susskind, Daniel Susskind
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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This book predicts the decline of today's professions and describes the people and systems that will replace them. In an Internet society, according to Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others to work as they did in the 20th century.
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I Hope It's Not All True
- By John on 05-01-16
By: Richard Susskind, and others
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Smarter Than You Think
- How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better
- By: Clive Thompson
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In Smarter Than You Think, Thompson documents how every technological innovation - from the printing press to the telegraph - has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being trivialized. But as in the past, we adapt, learning to use the new and retaining what’s good of the old.
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Title should be Getting Smarter Through Technology
- By A. Yoshida on 03-10-17
By: Clive Thompson
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Trekonomics
- The Economics of Star Trek
- By: Manu Saadia
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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What would the world look like if everybody had everything they wanted or needed? Trekonomics, the premier book in financial journalist Felix Salmon's imprint PiperText, approaches scarcity economics by coming at it backward - through thinking about a universe where scarcity does not exist. Delving deep into the details and intricacies of 24th-century society, Trekonomics explores post-scarcity and whether we, as humans, are equipped for it.
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An Amusing & Practical Analysis of Fictional Ideas
- By Lost In The Wash on 09-19-16
By: Manu Saadia
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The Master Algorithm
- How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World
- By: Pedro Domingos
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Under the aegis of machine learning in our data-driven machine age, computers are programming themselves and learning about - and solving - an extraordinary range of problems, from the mundane to the most daunting. Today it is machine learning programs that enable Amazon and Netflix to predict what users will like, Apple to power Siri's ability to understand voices, and Google to pilot cars.
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Great book, irritating narration
- By N. G. PEPIN on 09-24-15
By: Pedro Domingos
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Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
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Depressing narrator
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Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
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A hurricane is building, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn't show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn't much to save. Lately, Esch can't keep down what food she gets; she's 14 and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull's new litter, dying one by one in the dirt. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play and short on parenting.
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Science is in trouble. Real questions in desperate need of answers—especially those surrounding ethnicity, gender, climate change, and almost anything related to “health and safety”—are swiftly buckling to the fiery societal demands of what ought to be rather than what is. Can true, fact-based discovery be redeemed? In Science in an Age of Unreason, legendary professor of psychology and biology, John Staddon, unveils the identity crisis afflicting today’s scientific community, and provides an actionable path to recovery.
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For a quarter century, more than a million readers and listeners—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title.
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Why oh why did she narrate this?!
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Cinema Speculation
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In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans—and all movie lovers—could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining.
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A letdown I didn't see coming.
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The Madness of Crowds
- Gender, Race and Identity
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In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of ‘woke’ culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp prose he examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of ‘wokeness’, the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.
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An Urgent Read for Our Over-woke Times
- By Justin J. Norman on 09-26-19
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
- A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
- By: Eric Jorgenson, Tim Ferriss
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
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Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last 10 years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.
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Narrator sucks
- By Dagarcia718 on 03-25-21
By: Eric Jorgenson, and others
What listeners say about You Are Not a Gadget
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- James
- 04-25-10
A very good counterpoint piece
The book is a manifesto and it not only makes that clear in the title, but the author cops to it and while taking a strong position, LEAVES ROOM and GIVES PERMISSION for the reader to think differently or disagree.
So, while a manifesto, it didn't feel myopic and it wasn't merely a "preaching to the choir" confirmation piece -- it is a thoughtful take on some modern issues that doesn't require one "join this side" nor throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Agree or disagree or something else (I found myself doing all 3, sometimes on a single issue) -- I think it's worth a listen
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- Kindle Customer
- 05-10-19
A unique perspective on digital life
Lanier is one of the founders of virtual reality, who offers a thoughtful perspective on when technology serves us and when it limits us. Key to the book is the concept of 'lock in', whereby and arbitrary decision on how to code some piece of software becomes a building block for the next generation of software and then becomes incredibly difficult to change. He gives the example of MIDI, the standard for digitizing music. MIDI simpllfies music in such a way that the richness of live music cannot be fully captured, and it's possible to conceive of a better way of digitizing music that would better capture its essence. But, MIDI has become the standard and now it's extremely difficult to introduce a new one.
Lanier worries that the same is happening to aspects of human life. For example, in order for us to interact on social networks, engineers have essentially made a simplified model of human behavior online. This model omits some very necessary nuances of human interaction, but it's close enough that people use social networks to the exclusion of live person to person interaction. Lanier says if this kind of simplification of the human experience gets 'locked in', humans will accept an essentially incomplete facsimile of real human life.
The book is a really necessary perspective when so much of our lives is lived online. It's necessary to be thoughtful about what we might lose as well as what we might gain.
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Overall
- Maria L. Lantin
- 04-25-10
Interesting content, amazingly well read
I really enjoyed the pace of the reading of this book. The reader seemed interested in the content he was reading and had just the right pace for the absorption of the content.
The content of the book itself is also very good. You may not agree with everything Jaron says but there are definitely some insights that are worth thinking about and investigating for yourself. He finishes off with a personal account of his research interests which I found both enlightening and heart-warming.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Finster3
- 12-20-24
Cephalopod
Interesting book, even though it was written maybe ten or fifteen years ago, it still seems very relevant to today
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- Luke
- 05-28-10
Great book! Highly Recommended!
I really enjoyed the insight and thought provoking points in this book!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jim
- 01-31-13
A Flawed Presentation but Well Worth the Effort
Any additional comments?
This book offers some compelling arguments that Internet technology has put the essence of humanity at risk of annihilation from the destructive forces of mob rule. The book starts out strongly, effectively framing the evolution of Internet technology up through the current domination of hive-mind social engineering interfaces and systems, and effectively stoking a fire for a technological counter revolution needed to save humanity.
Many important arguments are made regarding the dangers of the hive mind, such as the societal costs of devaluing individual first-order creativity, the corrosive effects of anonymous discourse, the disenfranchisement of productive individuals by profiteering aggregators, and the denial of the role that closed systems and competition must play in the ongoing forward evolution of humanity. In my opinion, these are conversations are desperately prescient -- which is why I gave this book a positive review.
As a book, however, the narrative suffers from inconsistent organization, superfluous content, and failure to drive home many ideas which should be treated with more centrality. As a computer scientist / technologist with musical endeavors of my own, I am perhaps more adapted to this particular author's perspective than the average reader. Yet, I still found much of the book to be self-indulgent, often abandoning efforts to relate to lay people and periodically drifting from its stated flight path.
That said, the overarching questions and warnings explored in this book are of profound importance to the future of humanity. This alone makes the book worth reading. That these questions are being explored by a productive computer scientist, rather than, say, a theologian, makes this book required reading -- even you skim through the second half.
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- John
- 01-06-22
excellent
Amazing insights from a person truly on the inside of the heart of technology for the past 30+ years
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- Shaun J. Nigro
- 05-06-18
Incoherent, But Often Enlightening
Having gone backwards in the Lanier bibliography, I at first found this book to be much clearer in explicating complicated ideas presented in those books. Toward the end, this book does begin to feel a little incoherent and the last chapter about cephalapods and VR seemed out of place with the overall theme of the first half of the book. Overall, an interesting read/listen though as Lanier consistently seems to offer up an evolving thread of techno philosophical ideas.
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- Max
- 06-17-24
Jaron has an axe to grind. AKA Old man blames Internet for pre-existing cultural/economic issues
There are quite a few salient points, but few are all together unique I novel (especially for people listening/reading in the mid 2020s). Additionally, they are often muddled by odd tangents that turn into personal grudges. Like Jaron really doesn't care for wikipedia, at all, heaven forbid something is crowdsourced and unpaid (because incentivising pariticipation of public goods has never corrupted a culture, curious what he would think of modern crypto). He also hates the collective commons because... he wants to be able to give someone music for free, or say no, or at least force them to put a foot note that he dislikes their use? I'm not kidding he really uses that last part as an example. I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure he could do just that withing standard licensing practices. Creative commons is an additional option to licensing, not the ONLY way music and media is handled (see various DMCA crisis, those wouldnt be possible if licensing and copyright wasn't alive and well in the Internet). I suppose it is a race to a bottom in some ways, but as others have observed that is generally the way it is for artists or passion driven businesses in a capitalist culture. Should it be that way? IMO, probably not, but I don't think the Internet is the problem there, it just makes it easier to notice. Actually that's a good summary, new title for this review...
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- Thom
- 12-11-10
Mind blowing!
I will never look at web 2.0 sites, human learning, midi or the open source movements the same way again. Jaron handles each complex topic in extremely precise and well-considered language. Unfortunately, the chapters are not ordered with the same precision. Normally the rambling around would probably cause me to loose interest, but there are so many truly insightful and mind-bending ideas in this book that it is well worth the ramble. I consider this one of the most amazing books I've ever read.
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5 people found this helpful