Waubonsee Community College

Who owns the future?, Jaron Lanier

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 371-375) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Who owns the future?

bibliography

829937196

Jaron Lanier

In this book the author, father of virtual reality, and one of the world's most brilliant thinkers evaluates the negative impact of digital network technologies on the economy and particularly the middle class, citing challenges to employment and personal wealth while exploring the potential of a new information economy. This is his visionary reckoning with the most urgent economic and social trend of our age: the poisonous concentration of money and power in our digital networks. He has predicted how technology will transform our humanity for decades. He shows how Siren Servers, which exploit big data and the free sharing of information, led our economy into recession, imperiled personal privacy, and hollowed out the middle class. The networks that define our world, including social media, financial institutions, and intelligence agencies, now threaten to destroy it. But there is an alternative. In this book he charts a path toward a brighter future: an information economy that rewards ordinary people for what they do and share on the web

First round. Motivation ; A simple idea -- First interlude : ancient anticipation of the singularity -- The cybernetic tempest. Money as seen through one computer scientist's eyes ; The ad hoc construction of mass dignity ; "Siren servers" ; The specter of the perfect investment ; Some pioneering siren servers -- Second interlude (a parody) : if life gives you EULAs, make lemonade -- How this century might unfold, from two points of view. From below : mass unemployment events ; From above : misusing big data to become ridiculous -- Third interlude : modernity conceives the future -- Markets, energy landscapes, and narcissism. Markets and energy landscapes ; Narcissism -- Fourth interlude : limits are for Muggles -- The contest to be most meta. Story lost ; Coercion on autopilot : specialized network effects ; Obscuring the human element ; Story found -- Fifth interlude : the wise old man in the clouds -- Democracy. Complaint is not enough ; Clout must underlie rights, if rights are to persist -- Sixth interlude : the pocket protector in the saffron robe -- Ted Nelson. First thought, best thought -- The dirty pictures (or, nuts and bolts : what a humanistic alternative might be like). The project ; We need to do better than ad hoc levees ; Some first principles ; Who will do what? ; Big business ; How will we earn and spend? ; Risk ; Financial identity ; Inclusion ; The interface to reality ; Creepy ; A stab at mitigating creepiness -- Seventh interlude : limits are for mortals -- Transition. The transition ; Leadership -- Eighth interlude : the fate of books -- Conclusion : what is to be remembered?