citizenkahn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
This is likely the most important book that I have read in the last couple of years. We are close to losing democracy and social media is playing a dangerous role in this.
If we are to save democracy and safeguard our freedom, we have to understand what has happened and what our options are for going forward.
If we are to save democracy and safeguard our freedom, we have to understand what has happened and what our options are for going forward.
jorgjuar's review against another edition
5.0
5 out of freaking 5
Mindf*ck contains everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Cambridge Analytica. With a great, entertaining and even funny/sarcastic at times (despite the dreadful subject) writing, Christopher Wylie explains how everything actually started, the players involved and how it developed throughout time.
The information C. Wylie provides as a whistleblower is quite worrying to say the least, providing several examples of how manipulation of the masses were designed and deployed. I've read some reviews where it's stated that C. Wylie is very apologetic with himself but I disagree since he actually starts accepting his share of guilt.
When it comes to the book itself, I'd say it's pretty well written. C. Wylie explains in great detail the inner workings of different agencies whose ultimate goal is psychological warfare; despite the number of people/agencies/corporations involved, Wylie makes a great work sorting all the events in order for the reader to keep up.
In short, Mindf*ck is a book you must read.
Mindf*ck contains everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Cambridge Analytica. With a great, entertaining and even funny/sarcastic at times (despite the dreadful subject) writing, Christopher Wylie explains how everything actually started, the players involved and how it developed throughout time.
The information C. Wylie provides as a whistleblower is quite worrying to say the least, providing several examples of how manipulation of the masses were designed and deployed. I've read some reviews where it's stated that C. Wylie is very apologetic with himself but I disagree since he actually starts accepting his share of guilt.
When it comes to the book itself, I'd say it's pretty well written. C. Wylie explains in great detail the inner workings of different agencies whose ultimate goal is psychological warfare; despite the number of people/agencies/corporations involved, Wylie makes a great work sorting all the events in order for the reader to keep up.
In short, Mindf*ck is a book you must read.
thelauramay's review against another edition
5.0
Okay so this was excellent, and I'm beyond glad that a book so important to my PhD research was so emininently readable. There were a couple of things I pulled up at: the irony of the author describing 'dark triad' characteristics when there are recurrent threads of narcissism (and more?) throughout the book; and several of the claims made about Cambridge Analytica's research. The one that really stopped me was where Wylie claimed that CA learned that victim-blaming in cases of sexual assault is associated with having a Just World Belief. This is very well established in the literature already, and yet Wylie makes the claim that this was some fresh new idea. It makes me wonder what else of CA's research claimed here but has actually been done by uncited academics.
Either way, an excellent if somewhat scary read, and I at least will be citing the f*ck out of it.
Either way, an excellent if somewhat scary read, and I at least will be citing the f*ck out of it.
zakisreadingbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.25
misterfix's review against another edition
5.0
So much more than I anticipated and far better as well. In some ways this acts as a compliment to Edward Snowden's autobiography yet tells a very different tale. I was especially impressed with the author's analysis and suggestions on how to repair the system that he helped to create and used to cause such havoc. Learned a bunch of new terms as well like 'Perspecticide' - the active deconstruction and manipulation of popular perception, 'In silico' – simulation, 'Affect heuristic' – where people use mental shortcuts that are significantly influenced by emotion, 'Cognitive segregation' – where people exist in their own informational ghettos, a segregation of reality, 'Ludic loops', etc...
A few select quotes that capture the essence of the book:
"The underlying ideology within social media is not to enhance choice or agency, but rather to narrow, filter, and reduce choices to benefit creators and advertisers. Social media herds the citizenry into surveilled spaces where the architects can classify and track them and use this understanding to influence their behavior. If democracy and capitalism are based on accessible information and free choices, what we are witnessing is their subversion from the inside."
"We risk creating a society obsessive about remembering, and we may have overlooked the value of forgetting, moving on, or being unknown. Human growth requires private sanctuaries and free spaces where we can experiment, play, dabble, keep secrets, transgress taboos, break our promises, and contemplate our future selves without consequence to our public lives until we decide to change in public. History shows us that personal and social liberation begins in private. We cannot move on from our childhoods, past relationships, mistakes, old perspectives, old bodies, or former prejudices if we are not in control of our privacy and personal development. We cannot be free to choose if our choices are monitored and filtered for us. We cannot grow and change if we are shackled to who we once were or who we thought we were or how we once presented ourselves. If we exist in an environment that always watches, remembers, and labels us according to conditions or values outside our control or awareness, then our data selves my shackle us to histories that we prefer to move on from. Privacy is the very essence of our power to decide who and how we want to be. Privacy is not about hiding – privacy is about human growth and agency."
"Social media and Internet platforms are not services; they are architectures and infrastructures. By labeling their architectures as “services”, they are trying to make responsibility lie with the consumer, through their “consent”. But in no other services do we burden consumers in this way."
A few select quotes that capture the essence of the book:
"The underlying ideology within social media is not to enhance choice or agency, but rather to narrow, filter, and reduce choices to benefit creators and advertisers. Social media herds the citizenry into surveilled spaces where the architects can classify and track them and use this understanding to influence their behavior. If democracy and capitalism are based on accessible information and free choices, what we are witnessing is their subversion from the inside."
"We risk creating a society obsessive about remembering, and we may have overlooked the value of forgetting, moving on, or being unknown. Human growth requires private sanctuaries and free spaces where we can experiment, play, dabble, keep secrets, transgress taboos, break our promises, and contemplate our future selves without consequence to our public lives until we decide to change in public. History shows us that personal and social liberation begins in private. We cannot move on from our childhoods, past relationships, mistakes, old perspectives, old bodies, or former prejudices if we are not in control of our privacy and personal development. We cannot be free to choose if our choices are monitored and filtered for us. We cannot grow and change if we are shackled to who we once were or who we thought we were or how we once presented ourselves. If we exist in an environment that always watches, remembers, and labels us according to conditions or values outside our control or awareness, then our data selves my shackle us to histories that we prefer to move on from. Privacy is the very essence of our power to decide who and how we want to be. Privacy is not about hiding – privacy is about human growth and agency."
"Social media and Internet platforms are not services; they are architectures and infrastructures. By labeling their architectures as “services”, they are trying to make responsibility lie with the consumer, through their “consent”. But in no other services do we burden consumers in this way."
clemway's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0