We Are Not Machines

Filed Under Media, Rant 

Michael Hiltzik wrote a piece for the LA Times about Jaron Lanier. Lanier, 49, was one of the early visionaries for what the internet could do, and is the author of You Are Not a Gadget. He “has been pondering the effect that the World Wide Web — its ideology as well as its design — has had on creativity, society and commerce for years.”

America’s Facebook generation shows a submission to standardization that I haven’t seen before,” he says. “The American adventure has always been about people forgetting their former selves — Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac went on the road. If they had a Facebook page, they wouldn’t have been able to forget their former selves.”

Is it just me, or does it seem like there is an increase in the number of people who are writing about the perils of technology, media and always-on connectivity?

Or maybe I’m just drawn to these prophets because they provide catharsis in the midst of my unanswered questions about technology’s role in my future.

Comments

One Response to “We Are Not Machines”

  1. Dave Blanchard on March 18th, 2010 10:45 am

    Hey Brad

    Check out this article that’s a rebuttal to Lanier by Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch. It’s an interesting conversation.

    http://www.caterina.net/archive/001216.html

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