I hope this book doesn't come across as fueled by anger, but I don't want to deny my anger either. The tech companies are destroying something precious, which is the possibility of contemplation. They have created a world in which we're constantly watched and always distracted. Through their accumulation of data, they have constructed a portrait of our minds, which they use to invisibly guide mass behavior (and increasingly individual behavior) to further their financial interests. They have eroded the integrity of institutions - media, publishing - that supply the intellectual material that provokes thought and guides democracy. Their most precious asset is our own precious asset, our attention, and they have abused it.
- Franklin Foer in World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech
[Photo by Luke Chesser at Unsplash]
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