#world without mind

[quotes-by-dilanka]

We're being dinged, notified, and click-baited, which interrupts any sort of possibility for contemplation. To me, the destruction of contemplation is the existential threat to our humanity.

—Franklin Foer, World Without Mind

[chineseffect]

Guys, this is IRONY! :)

The current trend in which Chinese Communist Party is taking China to the digital totalitarian dystopia, where every step of every citizen is monitored and evaluated, is making me feel very 心里不安 /xīnli bù ān/ (UNEASY/UNPEACEFUL IN HEART).

Unfortunately it seems to be the global trend.

Even the regimes in the countries that used to be the symbols of liberty are becoming less and less democratic and more and more openly serve the biggest corporations rather than its people.

We need to rediscover the value of discussion and of truly independent media. We also need to see the brutally damaging effect that corporations such as Facebook, Google and Amazon have on public opinion.

For instance facebook delivers content in order to keep you longer on their site, see more adds and click on more adds. How do they do that? Simply by delivering the content that you want to see or that will make you feel happy or outraged.

Informations that don't support your point of view basically aren't allowed to get on your timeline, because it is always uncomfortable to be confronted with something that is mentally challenging. Some people don't handle it too well and that is risky for the corporation that wants to sell adds.

This (combined with the fear that people feel from the economic changes delivered by technology) is causing that the whole nations are getting more and more radical, because we are loosing our ability to be aware that there are always more angles to look at one problem.

And that is always the beginning of a big trouble.

Challenging times ahead of us, let the Force be with us!

___ __ _

Anyway, the sound similarity of the words 当然 /dāngrán/ OF COURSE and 党 /dǎng/ PARTY (in Chinese context Communist Party, because there is no other party) inspired me to this wordplay. :)

Take care!

___ __ _

FM_yunfei

[vintagebooksdesign]

WORLD WITHOUT MIND – Franklin Foer

Franklin Foer’s brilliantly researched World Without Mind is a compelling polemic revealing how the big tech companies are damaging our culture - and what we can all do to fight their influence.

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.

A difficult concept to realise, but the aim was to focus on the smartphone - our own personal link to cyberspace. Our smartphones are now our diary and our dictionary. They contain our conversations, our movements, our reading tastes, music, fashion and more – and the big-tech companies are aiming to influence these decisions. Early cover ideas focussed on a jumble of Ministry-of-Truth-like text messages, and cracked smartphones revealing darker influences. This is what influenced the idea behind the final cover - what lies beneath the surface – and how we are suckered into believing that owning such sophisticated devices will somehow improve us.

World Without Mind is published this month by Jonathan Cape.

[penguinoncampus]

Are big tech companies trying to control our lives?

Should we be concerned about the growing power of tech giants? In his book, “World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech,” Franklin Foer says that more than their size, these companies are a threat because of the ways they shape how we filter information and the world. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the role of tech companies as gatekeepers.

Franklin Foer on PBS NewsHour talking about the existential threat of big tech companies, the subject of his new book WORLD WITHOUT MIND.

[penguinoncampus]

The coming earthquake

Big tech is combining with our other big trends in a compound disruption.

On Axios, a breakdown of Franklin Foer's WORLD WITHOUT MIND:

"Our faith in technology is no longer fully consistent with our belief in liberty. We're nearing the moment when we will have to damage one of our revolutions to save the other. Privacy can't survive the present trajectory of technology."

[penguinoncampus]

When Silicon Valley Took Over Journalism

The pursuit of digital readership broke the 'New Republic'—and an entire industry.

An excerpt from Franklin Foer's WORLD WITHOUT MIND appears in the September issue of The Atlantic.