
Superbloom
How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Todd Ross
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By:
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Nicholas Carr
About this listen
From the author of The Shallows, a bracing exploration of how social media has warped our sense of self and society.
From the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s to the internet and social media in our own day, the public has welcomed new communication systems. Whenever people gain more power to share information, the assumption goes, society prospers. Superbloom tells a startlingly different story. As communication becomes more mechanized and efficient, it breeds confusion more than understanding, strife more than harmony. Media technologies all too often bring out the worst in us.
A celebrated commentator on the human consequences of technology, Nicholas Carr reorients the conversation around modern communication, challenging some of our most cherished beliefs about self-expression, free speech, and media democratization. He reveals how messaging apps strip nuance from conversation, how “digital crowding” erodes empathy and triggers aggression, how online political debates narrow our minds and distort our perceptions, and how advances in AI are further blurring the already hazy line between fantasy and reality. Even as Carr shows how tech companies and their tools of connection have failed us, he forces us to confront inconvenient truths about our own nature. The human psyche, it turns out, is profoundly ill-suited to the “superbloom” of information that technology has unleashed.
With rich psychological insights and vivid examples drawn from history and science, Superbloom provides both a panoramic view of how media shapes society and an intimate examination of the fate of the self in a time of radical dislocation. It may be too late to change the system, Carr counsels, but it’s not too late to change ourselves.
©2025 Nicholas Carr (P)2025 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Mike Pepi
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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At the turn of the millennium, digital technologies seemed to have immense promise for transforming our society. With these powerful new tools, the thinking went, we would be free to live our best lives, connected to our communities in ways full of infinite potential. A quarter of a century on, this form of utopianism seems like a cruel mirage. So what happened? In Against Platforms, technologist and creator Mike Pepi lays out an explanation of what went wrong—and a manifesto for putting it right.
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Relevant, clear, and accessible
- By books&ennui on 04-09-25
By: Mike Pepi
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Employment Is Dead
- How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work
- By: Deborah Perry Piscione, Josh Drean
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Business is on the cusp of an inevitable and profound transformation. The tools of tomorrow will amplify human potential, from collaborating in virtual spaces through digital avatars, to managing transactions transparently on the blockchain. Those who embrace these technologies—and the manner in which people want to work—will unleash unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation. Conversely, those who remain tethered to outdated work patterns risk losing out on the best talent, and even becoming obsolete.
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AI is Rapidly Changing Today’s Workforce
- By Hayley on 02-18-25
By: Deborah Perry Piscione, and others
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The Promise and Peril of CRISPR
- By: Neal Baer
- Narrated by: Peter Lerman
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Scientists and genetic engineers are becoming increasingly adept at editing the human genome. How far can—and should—they go in editing future generations? In The Promise and Peril of CRISPR, editor Neal Baer brings together a timely collection of essays by influential bioethicists, philosophers, and geneticists to explore the moral, ethical, and policy challenges posed by CRISPR technology.
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Complex issues of science & ethics well explained!
- By OpenTheBooks&Listen on 03-03-25
By: Neal Baer
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Random Acts of Automation
- How to Fight Back When Automation Threatens Your Work, Your Life, and Everything You Do
- By: Craig LeClair
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Random Acts of Automation dives deep into the hidden consequences of our rapid automation, examining the forces that will reshape the current workforce. This book focuses on real people—fast-food workers, warehouse staff, customer service agents, even lawyers and tech professionals—all facing the impact of automation. In its chapters, you will find practical solutions to your workplace concerns about AI. This isn't just about understanding your current job; it's about seeing where automation will take you and how you can thrive.
By: Craig LeClair
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Public Opinion
- By: Walter Lippmann
- Narrated by: John Clickman
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion (1922) argues humans can't fully grasp complex issues. We rely on simplified ideas (stereotypes) and media portrayals ("pseudo-environments") to form opinions.
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Lippmann is an impressive social scientist.
- By Anonymous User on 12-29-24
By: Walter Lippmann
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Outrage Machine
- How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy—and What We Can Do About It
- By: Tobias Rose-Stockwell
- Narrated by: Justin Price, Tobias Rose-Stockwell, Bolton Marsh
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the last two decades, there has been an inescapable rise of anger and aggression across our planet. Hate speech has become increasingly prevalent online, Western governments are turning towards authoritarianism and populism, and extremist groups are rising across both the left and the right ends of the political spectrum. Every day, it seems, we're hearing more angry voices and fearful opinions, we're seeing more threats and frightening news, and we're reacting faster and less rationally.
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Annoying analogous stories
- By Lindsay on 07-06-24
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Countdown
- The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons
- By: Sarah Scoles
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In Countdown, science journalist Sarah Scoles uncovers a different atomic reality: the nuclear age's present. Drawing from years of on-the-ground reporting at the nation's nuclear weapons labs, Scoles interrogates the idea that having nuclear weapons keeps us safe, deterring attacks and preventing radioactive warfare. She deftly assesses the existing nuclear apparatus in the United States, taking listeners beyond the news headlines and policy-speak to reveal the state of nuclear-weapons technology.
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It was just not interesting.
- By Anonymous User on 02-02-25
By: Sarah Scoles
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Psychopolitics
- Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power
- By: Byung-Chul Han
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 2 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Byung-Chul Han, a star of German philosophy, continues his passionate critique of neoliberalism, trenchantly describing a regime of technological domination that, in contrast to Foucault’s biopower, has discovered the productive force of the psyche.
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Jargon and ambiguity are not honest intellectualism
- By carsonwelker on 10-18-24
By: Byung-Chul Han
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Intertwined
- From Insects to Icebergs
- By: Michael Gross
- Narrated by: Mike Cooper
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In nature, everything is connected: from microscopic bacteria and soaring trees to animals struggling for survival amid thriving humanity. Yet many of today's toughest problems, from environmental destruction to divisive politics, stem from fundamental disconnections. In Intertwined, Michael Gross explains how the natural world can be a powerful reminder of our interdependence.
By: Michael Gross
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Technopoly
- The Surrender of Culture to Technology
- By: Neil Postman
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In this witty, often terrifying work of cultural criticism, Postman chronicles our transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it. According to Postman, technology is rapidly gaining sovereignty over social institutions and national life to become self-justifying, self-perpetuating, and omnipresent. He warns that this will have radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, religion, family, education, and more.
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Error in recording
- By D. Cassidy on 04-30-15
By: Neil Postman
What listeners say about Superbloom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Matthew T
- 02-06-25
Great book!
I enjoyed the context needed to fully understand and grasp the complex issue technology plays in human communication. It is very frightening and worrisome when it comes to AI in the role that it plays in our world moving forward. Nicholas Carr did an amazing job laying the cards down.
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- Classical Ideas Podcast
- 02-14-25
Humanity is really doomed, eh?
Too long. Lot of chapters drag. Otherwise really solid bit of information about why we are the way we are.
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