The People Vs Tech: How the Internet Is Killing Democracy (and How We Save It)From the bestselling author of The Dark Net comes a book that explains all the dangers of the digital revolution and offers concrete solutions on how we can protect our personal privacy, and democracy itself. The internet was meant to set us free. But have we unwittingly handed too much away to shadowy powers behind a wall of code, all manipulated by a handful of Silicon Valley utopians, ad men, and venture capitalists? And, in light of recent data breach scandals around companies like Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, what does that mean for democracy, our delicately balanced system of government that was created long before big data, total information, and artificial intelligence? In this urgent polemic, Jamie Bartlett argues that through our unquestioning embrace of big tech, the building blocks of democracy are slowly being removed. The middle class is being eroded, sovereign authority and civil society is weakened, and we citizens are losing our critical faculties, maybe even our free will. The People Vs Tech is an enthralling account of how our fragile political system is being threatened by the digital revolution. Bartlett explains that by upholding six key pillars of democracy, we can save it before it is too late. We need to become active citizens, uphold a shared democratic culture, protect free elections, promote equality, safeguard competitive and civic freedoms, and trust in a sovereign authority. This essential book shows that the stakes couldn't be higher and that, unless we radically alter our course, democracy will join feudalism, supreme monarchies and communism as just another political experiment that quietly disappeared. |
Contents
The Global Village | |
Driverless Democracy | |
The Everything Monopoly | |
CryptoAnarchy | |
Say Hello to the Future | |
Ideas to Save Democracy | |
Notes | |
Acknowledgements | |
Other editions - View all
The People Vs Tech: How the Internet is Killing Democracy (and how We Save It) Jamie Bartlett No preview available - 2018 |
The People Vs Tech: How the internet is killing democracy (and how we save it) Jamie Bartlett No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
advertising adverts Airbnb algorithms Amazon artificial intelligence become believe big data Big Tech bitcoin blockchain Brad called Cambridge Analytica cars cent citizens companies create crypto-anarchy cryptocurrencies cypherpunks database decentralised decisions democracy democratic digital technology Donald Trump Douglas Rushkoff drive driverless driverless cars dystopia economy election encryption example Facebook freedom Google Google's groups human idea inequality Jared Kushner Labour machine learning Mark Zuckerberg McLuhan means million moral organised personalised police political parties predicted problem Project Alamo recently robots shared Silicon Valley small number smart social media social media platform society Software Wars spending Starsky target tech firms tech giants techniques Theresa things told tribal truck Trump campaign Twitter Uber understand universal basic income users voters votes worried Y Combinator YouTube