On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 08:27:00AM -0800, Razer wrote: ... > I’ve come to the view this as part of the project of the book itself: to > leave us unsettled by how its narrator, like all of us, remains somewhat > in the Valley’s mindset, if not its pocket. This entanglement is a > feature of the system that works, as she notes, precisely as designed. > In the end, for all the generosity she extends to those around her, > Wiener is unsparing with herself: “Certain unflattering truths: I had > felt unassailable behind the walls of power. Society was shifting, and I > felt safer inside the empire, inside the machine. It was preferable to > be on the side that did the watching than the side being watched.” > Wiener has written an indispensable chronicle of this era in tech, the > consequences of which we will all reckon with as the next decade > unfolds. Still, given the Valley’s unmatched ability to avoid any sense > of guilt as the world around it burns, there is no doubt in my mind that > while Uncanny Valley will be read widely and voraciously throughout the > empire, Wiener’s readers—techno-skeptics and technologists alike—will be > able to recognize themselves without feeling indicted. > > But surely someone, somewhere, eventually, will need to feel indicted. > At some point, we’re going to need the sharp end of the knife." > https://thebaffler.com/latest/certain-unflattering-truths-schaffer
Great book review! Thanks to teh resident neo-Marxist for posting :) If only there were a double edged edify/diss ...
