World Without Mind
The Existential Threat of Big Tech
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Narrated by:
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Marc Cashman
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By:
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Franklin Foer
About this listen
Franklin Foer reveals the existential threat posed by big tech, and in his brilliant polemic gives us the toolkit to fight their pervasive influence.
Over the past few decades there has been a revolution in terms of who controls knowledge and information. This rapid change has imperiled the way we think. Without pausing to consider the cost, the world has rushed to embrace the products and services of four titanic corporations. We shop with Amazon, socialize on Facebook, turn to Apple for entertainment, and rely on Google for information. These firms sell their efficiency and purport to make the world a better place, but what they have done instead is to enable an intoxicating level of daily convenience.
As these companies have expanded, marketing themselves as champions of individuality and pluralism, their algorithms have pressed us into conformity and laid waste to privacy. They have produced an unstable and narrow culture of misinformation, and put us on a path to a world without private contemplation, autonomous thought, or solitary introspection - a world without mind. In order to restore our inner lives, we must avoid being coopted by these gigantic companies, and understand the ideas that underpin their success.
Elegantly tracing the intellectual history of computer science - from Descartes and the enlightenment to Alan Turing to Stewart Brand and the hippie origins of today's Silicon Valley - Foer exposes the dark underpinnings of our most idealistic dreams for technology. 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.
At stake is nothing less than who we are, and what we will become. There have been monopolists in the past but today's corporate giants have far more nefarious aims. They’re monopolists who want access to every facet of our identities and influence over every corner of our decision-making. Until now few have grasped the sheer scale of the threat. Foer explains not just the looming existential crisis but the imperative of resistance.
©2017 Franklin Foer (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017
One of the best books of the year by The New York Times, LA Times, and NPR
"But Foer’s writing is deft enough to make this a polemic in the best sense of the word, which is to say a relentless intellectual argument, executed in the tradition of George Orwell and Christopher Hitchens, which often eschews nuance in favor of wit and aggression." (Washington Post)
“Foer conjures concise, insightful psychological profiles of each mover-and-shaker, detailing how they've mixed utopianism and monopolism into an insidious whole. He also offers compelling mini-bios of everyone from Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew and the father of modern propaganda, to Stewart Brand, publisher of The Whole Earth Catalog and a massive influence on Silicon Valley.... World Without Mind is a searing take, a polemic packed with urgency and desperation that, for all its erudition and eloquence, is not afraid to roll up its sleeves and make things personal.” (NPR.org)
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In a book that's one part prophecy, one part thought experiment, one part manifesto, and one part survival manual, internet impresario and blogging pioneer Jeff Jarvis reverse-engineers Google, the fastest-growing company in history, to discover 40 clear and straightforward rules to manage and live by.
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Shallow and one-sided
- By JimmiJ on 02-04-09
By: Jeff Jarvis
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Googled
- The End of the World as We Know It
- By: Ken Auletta
- Narrated by: Jim Bond
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In Googled, esteemed media writer and critic Ken Auletta uses the story of Google's rise to explore the inner workings of the company and the future of the media at large. Although Google has often been secretive, this book is based on the most extensive cooperation ever granted a journalist, including access to closed-door meetings and interviews with founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, CEO Eric Schmidt, and some 150 present and former employees.
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Audio production could have been better
- By David on 11-12-09
By: Ken Auletta
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AI Superpowers
- China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
- By: Kai-Fu Lee
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.
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Compelled to listen at 2x speed
- By LEE on 09-26-18
By: Kai-Fu Lee
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The World Is Flat
- Further Updated and Expanded
- By: Thomas L. Friedman
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations?
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If you like cliches...
- By Jonathan Shultz on 09-08-07
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The Death of Truth
- Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases.
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Prescient Account of the Mechanics of Tyranny
- By Brian Price on 07-27-18
By: Michiko Kakutani
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Little Rice
- Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream
- By: Clay Shirky
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the 1990s China has been climbing up the ladder of quality, from doing knockoffs to designing its own high-end goods. Xiaomi - its name literally means "little rice" - is landing squarely in this shift in China's economy. But the remarkable rise of Xiaomi from startup to colossus is more than a business story because mobile phones are special. The common desiderata of the global population, mobile phones offer the kind of freedom and connectedness that autocratic countries are terrified of.
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Informative and up to date.
- By Kevin on 01-10-16
By: Clay Shirky
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The Formula
- How Algorithms Solve all our Problems…and Create More
- By: Luke Dormehl
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating guided tour of the complex, fast-moving, and influential world of algorithms - what they are, why they’re such powerful predictors of human behavior, and where they’re headed next. Algorithms exert an extraordinary level of influence on our everyday lives - from dating websites and financial trading floors, through to online retailing and internet searches - Google's search algorithm is now a more closely guarded commercial secret than the recipe for Coca-Cola.
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Not about algorithms. Not an original book.
- By Landon Rordam on 12-02-14
By: Luke Dormehl
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Whiplash
- How to Survive Our Faster Future
- By: Joi Ito, Jeff Howe
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, not only is everything digital getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, we also have the Internet. When these two revolutions - one in technology and the other in communications - joined, an explosive force was unleashed that changed the very nature of innovation. And with any change, we have seen many strategic blunders and extraordinary learning curves along the way.
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Just general advice on how to survive
- By A. Yoshida on 09-01-17
By: Joi Ito, and others
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Who Controls the Internet
- Illusions of a Borderless World
- By: Jack Goldsmith, Tim Wu
- Narrated by: Bob Loza
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Is the Internet erasing national borders? Who's really in control of what's happening on the Net--Internet engineers, rogue programmers, the United Nations, or powerful countries?In this provocative new book, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu tell the fascinating story of the Internet's challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, and the ensuing battles with governments around the world.
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Mostly delves into questions of law
- By Amazon Customer on 05-07-11
By: Jack Goldsmith, and others
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Writing on the Wall
- Social Media: The First 2,000 Years
- By: Tom Standage
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Papyrus rolls and Twitter have much in common, as each was their generation's signature means of "instant" communication. Indeed, as Tom Standage reveals in his scintillating new audiobook, social media is anything but a new phenomenon. From the papyrus letters that Roman statesmen used to exchange news across the Empire to the advent of hand-printed tracts of the Reformation to the pamphlets that spread propaganda during the American and French revolutions, Standage chronicles the increasingly sophisticated ways people shared information with each other....
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technology changes, we don't
- By Andy on 12-02-13
By: Tom Standage
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Trekonomics
- The Economics of Star Trek
- By: Manu Saadia
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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What would the world look like if everybody had everything they wanted or needed? Trekonomics, the premier book in financial journalist Felix Salmon's imprint PiperText, approaches scarcity economics by coming at it backward - through thinking about a universe where scarcity does not exist. Delving deep into the details and intricacies of 24th-century society, Trekonomics explores post-scarcity and whether we, as humans, are equipped for it.
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An Amusing & Practical Analysis of Fictional Ideas
- By Lost In The Wash on 09-19-16
By: Manu Saadia
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Smarter Than You Think
- How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better
- By: Clive Thompson
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In Smarter Than You Think, Thompson documents how every technological innovation - from the printing press to the telegraph - has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being trivialized. But as in the past, we adapt, learning to use the new and retaining what’s good of the old.
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Title should be Getting Smarter Through Technology
- By A. Yoshida on 03-10-17
By: Clive Thompson
What listeners say about World Without Mind
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Louisiana purchase
- 11-20-18
Things you should know
Informative book. Hopefully we are not to far down this road already. In my opinion this book tells a story of how we got here. Unfortunately we dont know how to fix it. the future is unknown and should be concerning
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- D.C. Lozar
- 04-09-18
An Existential Crisis in the Factual World
Would you consider the audio edition of World Without Mind to be better than the print version?
I am an enormous fan of those who have the guts and fortitude to stand up for what they believe in and to call out injustices. Franklin Foer does this in his book, "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech," in such a smooth and personal way that the reader is fully engaged and entertained even as we delve into deep ethical issues of privacy, autonomy, and the destruction of intellectual property. The audiobook was beautifully narrated and very informative. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels big business has overstepped its bonds in the name of profit. Well done.
What other book might you compare World Without Mind to and why?
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What about Marc Cashman’s performance did you like?
see above
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
see above
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1 person found this helpful
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- Eric Decker
- 02-20-18
Interesting viewpoint
While I don't agree with some of the leaps taken, this book will open your eyes up to what is happening in the tech world today. Also deep dives into how a few giants have been able monopolize. Interesting and easy listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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- cawilliams
- 03-09-18
I appreciate the warning...
But I get the impression the author thinks if it wasn't for Facebook, we'd all be Henry David Thoreau, sitting around at Walden Pond, philosophizing. And I personally am crazy about my Kindle.
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- Dan S.
- 03-23-18
eye opening
Very worthwhile book. Maybe could've been a bit shorter and said the samething. Narrator was okay. Wake up America!
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- Robert Ricker
- 10-27-17
Your own bias shows through
Several statements are biased and not provable so why do I trust anything you say?
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ex
- 10-19-17
interesting but meandering
some of this is pretty well padded, but the core argument is fascinating and true. timely considering what's happening now with Facebook and Google data being questioned and how their platforms were used to influence the election.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David Larson
- 09-18-17
5-Star Book with a 1-Star Title
5-Star Book with a 1-Star Title
There's a recent trend where we take an amazing book that everyone needs to read and give it a crazy title (e.g., Chasing the Scream, Fantasy Land, etc.) virtually guaranteeing that nobody will become intrigued enough to pick up said book. To help overcome this deficit, I have written this review to point out how insanely good this dull-titled book really is.
Pop quiz, during the last four years of the Obama administration, which American company sent the most lobbyists to the White House?
Was it some bloated weapons-system maker who just signed a sweetheart, no-bid, multi-billion dollar deal to deliver a weapons system that will come in late, over-contract, and have multiple technical glitches requiring expensive ongoing maintenance and upgrades from said company? Nope not those guys.
Was it lobbyists from some big pharma company trying to convince the president to let them make a handful of minor 5000% price increases on drugs invented 50 years ago and available for pennies on the dollar in every other country in the world? Nope, not those guys either.
The company with the most lobbyists regularly visiting the White House over the last 4 years, was a little silicon valley startup called Google.
Do I have your attention?
Here's what to do now:
Step 1: Read this book immediately. Step 2: Question everything.
Okay, maybe not everything. The weak spots in this book are mostly in the first half where the author (a famed former editor of the New Republic) rails bitterly against falling standards in his profession amid piracy and abundance. The author balances precariously here as he imagines himself stumbling upon some ancient economic law stating that an increase in supply somehow leads to an inevitable decrease in quality. No such law exists, and usually the opposite happens (i.e., if you want to find the most diamonds in the rough, it helps to start with a lot more rough). If you want more successes, you need to take more attempts, and that means you will have more misses too.
This book is really two books. The first half is a slow-burn oral history of the information age, and it completely undersells what’s about to hit you in the second half. The second half of the book is a rousing polemic that makes you realize suddenly that the pod people walk among us and you don’t even own a pair of katana blades to defend yourself. The second half of the book is a quadra-latte vascular injection into the orbicularis oculi muscles of your eyes. In other words, read it, and you shall be made to see the light.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Christopher B Valentine
- 11-02-17
A critical message in an era of conformism.
World Without Mind accurately describes the critical crossroads that we as a culture find ourselves between technological and informational Utopia and authoritarianism. He provides specific examples and historical parallels that frame the current problem well. I can forgive him for being a bit of a romanticist about the paper book, but the points that he makes are completely valid. Media consumption should be a private, introspective affair. We need to recognize the value of dedicated, professional journalism, authorship and criticism. There are certain things that simply cannot be commodified. The most recent election is the best example of the manipulative power of social media. Not that Russian “hacking“ should not be investigated, but I think the much larger question is whether we as a country should permit there to be a system by which any power, corporate, governmental, foreign or domestic, may influence our democracy.
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8 people found this helpful
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- KNEH
- 12-06-17
You and your family need to understand this Book
This book is a must read for everyone. it highlights the issues we all must understand about the technology we have created it's insidious creap into all areas of our life and the control of our lives and society we are on cusp of loosing.
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