Justin Smith-Ruiu: Internet nije ono što mislite da jest - povijest, filozofija, upozorenje

Justin Smith-Ruiu: The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is - History, Philosophy, Warning

In The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is, Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Paris Cité, Justin Smith-Ruiu offers an original in-depth history of the Internet, from the ancient to the modern world—revealing its surprising origins in nature and centuries-old dreams of radically improving human life by letting machines think and communicate over long distances. The author points out that the "internet" has been with us much longer than we think and outlines the fascinating connections between the user experience of the internet, artificial intelligence, the invention of the printing press, communication between trees and the origins of computing in the machine-driven looms of the silk industry.

However, despite the continued potential of the internet, Smith-Ruiu believes that the hope for the internet as a utopia has finally died today and has been destroyed by the harsh reality of social media, the global information economy. and the nature of networked technology that kills the slightest amount of attention.

Combining the rapture of intellectual history with the directness of philosophy, The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is skilfully cuts through our everyday digital lives to paint a clear picture of what the Internet is, where it came from, and where it might take us in the coming decades.

"(…) The early Leibnizian spirit of the Internet that reigned from approx. 1678 until 2011. has lately fallen into an existential crisis.The call for "reckoning" has not led to world peace. Far, far from it. Leibniz, with all due respect, was too optimistic. (…)"

"As for the current form of the internet, it's as if we've invented a gadget that does nothing but count the ducks we've killed, publish their number to the world, rank us against all other duck hunters, and invite all of them, as well as any potential intruders who want to, to praise, criticize or mock us for our ranking. (…)"

"At the end of the day, bots are still like cardboard cows from Potemkin's village, because they are not able to conjure up the precious resource that the new economy aims to extract, that is, they are not able to conjure up attention. (…)"

"Furthermore, those who argue that it is easily possible for human existence to be a simulation similar to a video game would probably not think so if the video game in question was one played on arcade consoles, say Pac-Man or Space Invaders. (…)"

"If the world's most visited websites were indeed to stand trial for the damage they have caused in human history, as we briefly imagined in the opening chapter, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Twitter and the other culprits on duty would likely face the heaviest charges, while Wikipedia might still be able to hope for a quick exoneration and release."

A noteworthy critique, o technology that needs to be given a new meaning, as well as about human surveillance that should strive for liberation, not enslavement.
-Kirkus Reviews