(Excerpt from a terrific post by a writer who wrote from the perspective of the poor, unemployed, and over-worked people, the folks the Democratic party and liberal left left behind in the 90s. The whole piece is good, an engagement with some of the problems Lanier engages, written in a very accessible style. Joe died yesterday.)
Joe Bageant: Algorithms and Red Wine: "On the other hand, this whole business of the new hive cybernetic connectivity, could be just a swarm of data bits with no particular significance, in and of themselves, other than the magical thinking belief that they do. Which ain’t no small thing, given that what we agree upon as reality is achieved by social consensus. Hell, to some people Beelzebub still stalks the earth. To others, America is a free republic, not a company town. We all have our hallucinations.
One thing for sure. Most people in the (over)developed world think the connectivity and speed of the algorithms behind the cyberhive are worth it. Even teachers teach to a standardized test so students will conform to an algorithm, and if that ain’t hive mind, I don’t know what is."
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