Review on "You Are Not A Gadget" by Jaron Lanier

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This thought provoking book talks about web 2.0 and how it has affected us humans. Throughout the entire book I kept asking myself "Are we humans controlling technology, or is technology controlling us." I'm not a techie so I didn't really get some of the jargon he was trying to use. However these are the ideas I managed to get out from Part 1.

Easier life

Technology and AI has supposedly made life easier. I agree with that, however predictive texting/auto correct can sometimes be a pain in the butt especially with the iPhone. As a result china becomes vagina, disney becomes divorce and kick becomes lick. Imagine sending the wrong message to your boss. Because of auto correct,  I now have to spend more time texting which makes it even more time consuming. Easier life? I don't think so.

Controlled by Google and FB

The algorithms that surface content on FB and google are miracles of modern programming, however some feel that search and social networks only serve us content that we like and that we are not seeing content that we need. Hence we are trap in this bubble. Take for example when a frequent traveler and a normal person types in Egypt on Google, two different search results appear. One shows holiday destinations in Egypt and the other shows political unrest the country is facing.  The internet can go either way. It can encapsulate us in a little bubble of our narrow interest, or it can connect us to new people and new ways of thinking.  Basically the internet is becoming a self censoring entity based on illogical algorithms. We are living in an age of moronic censorship and cultural regulation. Political correctness is a disease, free and independent though is the only cure.

Trolls

The internet has supposedly made our lives much easier and simple. However it has created "Trolls" which has led to cyber bullying and fake identities. I feel as if people now do not have to be accountable for their actions as they can create pseudonyms and hide behind a mask. This reality should be taken seriously as it demonstrates the ugly side of technology and how much damage it can cause.

Lock In 

After MIDI created a musical note, it became the standard for every single thing today due to the Lock In feature where everything that we invent after that has to revolve around the idea of MIDI. This lock in feature I feel stifles creativity and technological advancement as a better design or invention might take over MIDI's place. I feel lock in as Jaron would say, "removes design options based on what is easiest to program, what is politically feasible, what is fashionable, or what is created by chance". In my own words, I feel  that the idea of lock in is like  a membership of an exclusive club where only people that are part of this exclusive club can only participate. The rest of the less fortunate people who may be able to offer more will not be able to obtain membership since they are not in the same league as these people because they are not part of the "norm".

Deep Blue vs Kasparov

The computer may have beaten Kasparov but what people failed to recognize is that humans designed Deep Blue. Deep Blue could not have existed without the intelligence of the creators. There is all this talk going on about how machines are much better than humans, this may be true, however when the machines fail then what? We as humans should not be over reliant on technology. Machines are only as good as their operator hence mankind should be given more recognition than the machines we create. We are not slaves to technology. I believe that we control technology and at the end of the day when all else fails, humans can be relied on as we have natural instincts and have the element of surprise. Whatever it is, humans have to always be in control.

I will leave you with a video from the latest Hugh Jackman movie "Reel Steal". Its a futuristic show where robots now dominate the boxing ring. Atom a sparring bot whose voice control system has been damaged, has now been switched to manual mode where he has to impersonate what Hugh Jackman is doing. Atom is up against a high tech robot Zeus that is able to analyze and respond to his opponents fight pattern. Zeus is supposedly the ultimate creation and has not been defeated. With the human touch and the element of surprise, will Atom be able to defeat Zeus??? Enjoy the show =)