I develop an Internet blocker for Linux called Chomper. As part of my R&D for thinking about further developing Chomper, I read and wrote a review of Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows”. It’s many people’s introduction to the idea of humane tech, and I’m glad I got around to reading it.
What are your thoughts on the book?
This is an amazing book. I love how he goes into the history of past technologies, how our society changed because of them, and how the Internet is vastly different from those past technologies. It gives some great insight into how the human mind is changing, for better or for worse.
I also recommend checking out another one of his books, The Glass Cage, about how automation is replacing essential human functioning. It’s a great book on a related topic, yet different from The Shallows.__
I have and read this book when it first came out and also follow his blog (http://www.roughtype.com) though he does not post much as well as sherry turkle. Another book you may want to read is William Power’s, Hamlet’s Blackberry…this subject has been around for a while, I’m just glad that it is FINALLY gaining traction
I love that book (and other books by him as well). One of the most powerful narratives in the book to me personally is when he talks about some of the individual people in charge of tech companies – and how their personal ambitions and longing (along the lines of transhumanism) end up shaping the culture we all live in. Fascinating.