You are not a gadget

Informed by Lanier’s experience and expertise as a computer scientist, *You Are Not a Gadget* discusses the technical and cultural problems that have unwittingly risen from programming choices—such as the nature of user identity—that were “locked-in” at the birth of digital media.

The book considers what a future based on current design philosophies will bring, with a focus on the proliferation of social networks, cloud-based data storage systems, and Web 2.

0 designs that elevate the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over individual intelligence and wisdom.

Lanier advocates for a more humanistic and humane future where individual creativity is celebrated over the collective efforts of the ‘hive mind’.