Against Platforms
Surviving Digital Utopia
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A bold and imaginative critique of the hidden costs of digital life - and a manifesto for a better future . . .
At the turn of the millennium, digital technologies seemed to have immense promise for transforming our society. With these powerful new tools, the thinking went, we would be free to live our best lives, connected to our communities in ways full of infinite potential.
A quarter of a century on, this form of utopianism seems like a cruel mirage. Our lives are more fragmented and pressure-filled as ever, as we race to keep up with technologies that manipulate, command, and drain us at every turn.
So what happened? In Against Platforms, technologist and creator Mike Pepi lays out an explanation of what went wrong - and a manifesto for putting it right.
The key, says Pepi, is that we have been taught that digital technologies are neutral tools, transparent, easily understood, and here to serve us. The reality, Pepi says, is that they are laden with assumptions and collateral consequences - ideology, in other words. And it is this hidden ideology that must be dismantled if we are to harness technology for the fullest expression of our humanity.
About this Author
Mike Pepi is a technologist and author who has written widely about the intersection between culture and the Internet. An art critic and theorist, he self-identifies as part of the "tech left" - digital natives who want to reshape technology as a force for progressive good. His writing has been published in Spike, Frieze, e-flux, and other venues.
Reviews
"Mike Pepi shows how we can embrace the promise of technology in humanity's service without getting swept away into the utopianism of the tech bros or the cynically proffered fantasies of venture capitalists. Yes, we can transcend our love-hate relationship with the net."
--Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now
"Against Platforms is a searing critique of the platforms that hold our culture, politics, media--and lives--in an increasingly tight stranglehold. Mike Pepi makes a passionate argument against Silicon Valley's utopian vision, and offers hope that technology can still be deployed in our best interests. This fascinating book is a timely and meticulous examination of a supremely important topic."
--Peter Ward, author of The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever
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