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A review by prcizmadia
The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom by Evgeny Morozov
4.0
I finished this a few years too late, and maybe you did, too: a lot of Morozov's assertions about the dark potential of the internet were on full display since the mid-2010s. He alludes the rise of Trumpian misinformation, Russian ops within Facebook, the purges in Sri Lanka and Burma, the billions of dollars spent on the domestic surveillance state, and the professionalization of cyber-crime through Silk Road and ransomware firms. All these things run counter to the cyber-utopianism that serves as this book's foil, and reading this today, in 2021, I feel a bit late to the party.
But I think the value is that *these lessons are still germane today.* For a designer such as myself, it is a reminder that we must consider not the intended use of our product, but whether it meets the needs of humans in the context that they will use it in. Technological determinism is a faulty construct with a political subtext: tech is good, it arcs toward justice in all things, and that anything can be solved on a technical means. This absolves Silicon Valley and tech firms of their actions, and our policymakers of reviewing their assumptions or actions.
Read this for a wholly different look at the internet in the context of technological development throughout human history. Prepare to be sobered, maybe a little wounded, but at least you'll be clear-eyed afterwards.
But I think the value is that *these lessons are still germane today.* For a designer such as myself, it is a reminder that we must consider not the intended use of our product, but whether it meets the needs of humans in the context that they will use it in. Technological determinism is a faulty construct with a political subtext: tech is good, it arcs toward justice in all things, and that anything can be solved on a technical means. This absolves Silicon Valley and tech firms of their actions, and our policymakers of reviewing their assumptions or actions.
Read this for a wholly different look at the internet in the context of technological development throughout human history. Prepare to be sobered, maybe a little wounded, but at least you'll be clear-eyed afterwards.