B008J2AEY8 EBOK

by Jaron Lanier

  Thanks to my early readers: Brian Arthur, Steven Barclay, Roger Brent, John Brockman, Eric Clemons, George Dyson, Doyne Farmer, Gary Flake, Ed Frenkel, Dina Graser, Daniel Kahneman, Lena Lanier, Dennis Overbye, David Rothenberg, Lee Smolin, Jeffrey Soros, Neal Stephenson, Eric Weinstein, and Tim Wu.

  Thanks to the musical instrument makers and dealers of Berkeley, Seattle, New York City, and London for providing delightful opportunities for procrastination.

  © JONATHAN SPRAGUE

  Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist and musician, best known for his work in virtual reality research. He coined and popularized the term, and he received a Lifetime Career Award from the IEEE in 2009 for his contributions to the field. Time named him as one of the “Time 100” in 2010. A profile in Wired described him as “the first technology figure to cross over to pop-culture stardom.” Lanier and friends co-created start-ups that are now parts of Oracle, Adobe, and Google. He has received multiple honorary PhDs and other honors. Lanier also writes orchestral music and plays a large variety of rare acoustic musical instruments. He is currently at work with colleagues at Microsoft Research on intriguing unannounced projects.

  www.jaronlanier.com

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  Also by Jaron Lanier

  You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto

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  Notes

  First Interlude: Ancient Anticipation of the Singularity

  1. Aristotle, Politics, approx. 350 BC, translated by Benjamin Jowett.

  Chapter 3. Money As Seen Through One Computer Scientist’s Eyes

  1. Matthew Yglesias, “Nobody Knows Where Economic Growth Comes From,” Slate, posted August 6, 2012.

  2. http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2010/11/19/how-many-olympic-sized-swimming-pools-can-we-fill-with-billionaire-gold/.

  Chapter 4. The Ad Hoc Construction of Mass Dignity

  1. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/technology/personaltech/spotify-unshackles-online-music-david-pogue.html.

  Chapter 6. The Specter of the Perfect Investment

  1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/business/media/byliner-takes-buzz-bissingers-e-book-off-amazon.html.

  2. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/magazine/08FOB-medium-t.html.

  3. http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/240002737.

  4. http://flightfox.com/about.

  5. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/technology/flightfox-lets-the-crowd-find-the-best-airfares.html.

  6. http://www.firstround.com/our_focus/.

  Chapter 7. Some Pioneering Siren Servers

  1. See Charles Fishman, The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works—and How It’s Transforming the American Economy (New York: Penguin Press, 2006), or Anthony Bianco, Wal-Mart: The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Everyday Low Prices Is Hurting America (New York: Currency Doubleday, 2007).

  Second Interlude: (A Parody): If Life Gives You EULAs, Make Lemonade

  1. http://nation.foxnews.com/fox-friends/2012/07/24/lemonade-stand-girls-obama-we-built-our-business.

  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Performance_Computing_Act_of_1991.

  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user_license_agreement.

  Chapter 9. From Above: Misusing Big Data to Become Ridiculous

  1. http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html.

  2. https://www.eff.org/issues/privacy/.

  3. http://purplebox.ghostery.com/?p=1016022352.

  4. http://purplebox.ghostery.com/?p=948639073.

  5. http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/29/tech/web/protect-privacy-google/index.html.

  6. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/google-is-top-tracker-of-surfers-in-study/.

  7. www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/facebook-is-using-you.html.

  8. www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html.

  9. www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/electronic-scores-rank-consumers-by-potential-value.html.

  10. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/technology/personaltech/how-to-muddy-your-tracks-on-the-internet.html.

  11. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/adblock-noscript-ghostery-trifecta-evil-opinion/.

  12. http://www.google.org/flutrends/.

  13. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2001/akerlof-article.html.

  14. http://www.carfax.com/entry.cfx.

  Third Interlude: Modernity Conceives the Future

  1. 2012, directed by Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks.

  2. Ronald Wright, A Short History of Progress (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005).

  3. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2011/12/boxing-robots-of-the-1930s.

  4. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/robot_invasion/2011/09/will_robots_steal_your_job.html.

  Chapter 12. Story Lost

  1. Aleksandar Hemon, “Beyond the Matrix,” New Yorker, September 10, 2012.

  Chapter 13. Coercion on Autopilot: Specialized Network Effects

  1. Daniel Kahneman has written foundational works on this topic. His book Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011) is a primary resource. Another relevant book is Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (New York: HarperCollins, 2008).

  2. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/yelp-is-sued-after-dispute-over-a-review/ http://www.naturalnews.com/034247_Yelpcom_lawsuit.html; http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/03/yelp-sued-for-extortionagain.html; http://pixsym.com/blog/reputation-management/yelp-extortion-the-lawsuits-dismissed-are-they-back-at-it-in-2012.

  3. http://www.pcworld.com/article/255471/want_your_facebook_status_seen_pay_up.html.

  4. http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/4/12/on-badoo-the-social-network-for-sex-users-pay-to-get-noticed-and-to-get-other-things-too.

  Chapter 14. Obscuring the Human Element

  1. http://www.salon.com/2006/07/24/turks_3/.

  2. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9782813-7.html.

  3. http://waxy.org/2008/11/the_faces_of_mechanical_turk/.

  4. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_40_of_new_mechanical_turkers_work_requests_a.php.

  Chapter 15. Story Found

  1. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/09/square_jack_dorsey_s_payments_firm_is_silicon_valley_s_next_great_company_.html.

  2. http://techcrunch.com/tag/deadpool/.

  3. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/google-wave-becomes-a-bit-more-public/.

  4. http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/01/deadpool-alert-google-wave-goes-read-only/.

  Fifth Interlude: The Wise Old Man in the Clouds

  1. http://www.facebook.com/Jesuits/posts/143094992485238.

  Chapter 16. Complaint Is Not Enough

  1. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/04/06/mort-zuckerman-no-easy-solutions-for-big-money-in-politics.

  2. http://sloanreview.mit.edu/improvisations/2012/06/20/big-data-and-the-u-s-presidential-campaign/

  Sixth Interlude: The Pocket Protector in the Saffron Robe

  1. “The Trickster Guru,” in The Essential Alan Watts (Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts, 1977).

  2. http://cafegratitude.com/menu.

  3. http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/i-am-annoyed-and-disappointed/Content?oid=1370662.

  Chapter 18. First Thought, Best Thought

  1. Kevin Kelly in his Technium blog, January 31, 2008.

  Chapter 20. We Need to Do Better than Ad Hoc Levees

  1. http://www.facebook
.com/notes/facebook-data-team/rethinking-information-diversity-in-networks/10150503499618859.

  Chapter 22. Who Will Do What?

  1. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/05/facebook_ipo_has_social_networking_supplanted_real_innovation_in_silicon_valley_.html.

  Chapter 26. Financial Identity

  1. See Tim Wu’s book The Master Switch (New York: Knopf, 2010).

  Chapter 28. The Interface to Reality

  1. http://www.firstround.com/our_focus/.

  2. http://www.naturalnews.com/036476_smart_meters_hacking_privacy.html.

  Chapter 29. Creepy

  1. See http://www.fellowgeek.com/a-US-security-firm-hacked-by-Anonymous-ix1113.html and http://www.esecurityplanet.com/hackers/panda-security-hacked-lulzsec-is-your-website-safe.html.

  2. http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/freeman/lifestreams.html.

  3. See http://totalrecallbook.com/.

  Seventh Interlude: Limits Are for Mortals

  1. David Brooks, “The Creative Monopoly,” New York Times, April 23, 2012.

  2. http://blakemasters.tumblr.com/post/21169325300/peter-thiels-cs183-startup-class-4-notes-essay.

  3. http://www.dailydot.com/society/facebook-mourning-jenna-ness-death/.

  4. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2009/01/night_of_the_living_dad.html.

  5. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/tupac-hologram-elvis-presley-marilyn-monroe_n_1818715.html.

  6. A Russian political party has been founded to further this goal. See http://www.gizmag.com/avatar-project-2045/23454/.

  Chapter 31. The Transition

  1. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/22/147261659/gauging-the-reliability-of-facts-on-wikipedia.

  Conclusion. What Is It to Be Remembered?

  1. http://www.wired.com/business/2012/04/ff_klout/.

  Index

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

  Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 159–60

  absolutism, 45–46

  Abundance humor, 125, 126, 128, 215–16

  accidents, 90–92

  accounting, 29–30, 270–71, 274, 337–38, 344–45

  “Act Naturally,” 256

  Acxiom, 109

  ad agencies, 267, 291

  Adobe, 265

  advertising, 14, 20, 24, 42, 66, 81, 107, 109, 114, 129, 154, 169–74, 177, 182, 207, 227, 242, 266–67, 275, 286, 291, 322–24, 347–48, 354, 355

  age waves, 133, 346

  aggregates, 115, 183, 192

  aging population, 97–100, 133, 269, 296n, 346

  agriculture, 17, 24–25, 66n, 132

  air conditioners, 56

  Akerlof, George, 118

  Aldini, Giovanni, 327

  Alger, Horatio, 185, 187

  algorithms, 20, 23n, 48, 75–78, 112, 113, 114–15, 120, 126, 128, 147–48, 155, 167–68, 170, 177, 178, 180, 191–92, 193, 228, 255, 262, 274–75, 306, 326, 356, 365

  alienation, 137

  Allen, Woody, 130

  alternating current (AC), 327

  Amazon, 62, 63, 65, 87, 119, 147–48, 173, 176, 177–78, 182, 187, 222, 246, 271, 349, 350, 352

  ambiguity, 41, 53–54, 155–56

  American Idol, 41

  anarchy, 335–36

  Andreessen, Marc, 357n

  Angry Birds, 242

  anonymity, 172, 248–51, 283–90

  antenimbosia, 42, 48, 338–39

  anticorporatism, 265

  antihuman values, 85

  antitrust laws, 60, 144, 174, 273, 350

  “any” scenario, 158–62, 325

  Apple Computer, 65, 106, 170, 172, 192, 207, 211–13, 222, 223, 229, 241–42, 246, 267, 343, 349, 350

  Apple Macintosh computers, 211, 229

  Apple Store, 349, 350

  apps, 80–82, 104n, 108n, 170, 172, 179, 223, 230, 241–42, 269n, 315, 336, 356, 358

  Arab Spring, 199, 200

  arbitrage, 57

  Arch Records, 161n

  Aristotle, 22–25, 123, 135

  Armageddon, 30

  armies, 24–25

  Arthur, W. Brian, 169n

  artificial hearts, 157–58

  artificial intelligence (AI), 23, 61, 94, 95, 114, 116, 136, 138n, 147, 155, 157, 178, 191, 192–93, 325, 330, 354, 359n

  artificial memory, 35

  art market, 108

  Art of the Long View, The (Schwartz), 214

  ashrams, 213

  assets, 31, 60

  “As We May Think” (Bush), 221n

  asymmetry, 54–55, 61–66, 118, 188, 203, 246–48, 285–88, 291–92, 310

  Athens, 22–25

  atomic bomb, 127

  “attractor nightmare,” 48

  auctions, 170, 286

  aulos, 23n

  austerity, 96, 115, 125, 151, 152, 204, 208

  authenticity, 128–32, 137

  authors, 62n

  automata, 11, 12, 17, 23, 42, 55, 85–86, 90–92, 97–100, 111, 129, 135–36, 155, 157, 162, 260, 261, 269, 296n, 342, 359–60

  automated services, 62, 63, 64, 147–48

  automated trading systems, 74–78, 115

  automation, 7, 85, 123–24, 192, 234, 259, 261, 343

  automobiles, 43, 86, 90–92, 98, 118–19, 125n, 302, 311, 314, 343, 367

  avatar cameras, 265

  avatars, 89n, 265, 283–85

  baby boomers, 97–100, 339, 346

  bailouts, financial, 45, 52, 60, 74–75, 82

  Baird-Murray, Kathleen, 200n

  “Ballad of John Henry, The,” 134–35

  bandwidth, 171–72

  banking, 32–33, 42, 43, 69, 76–78, 151–52, 251, 269n, 289, 345–46

  bankruptcy, 2, 89, 251

  bargains, 64–65, 95–96

  Barlow, John Perry, 353

  Barnes & Noble, 62n, 182

  barter system, 20, 57

  Battlestar Galactica, 137, 138n

  “beach fantasy,” 12–13, 18, 236–37, 331, 366–67

  Beatles, 211, 212, 213

  behavior models, 32, 121, 131, 173–74, 286–87

  behavior modification, 173–74

  Belarus, 136

  belief systems, 139–40

  Bell, Gordon, 313

  bell curve distribution, 39, 39–45, 204, 208, 262, 291–93

  Bell Labs, 94

  Bentham, Jeremy, 308n

  Berners-Lee, Tim, 230

  Bezos, Jeff, 352

  big business, 265–67, 297–98

  big data, 107–40, 150, 151–52, 155, 179, 189, 191–92, 202–4, 265–66, 297–98, 305, 346, 366, 367

  big money, 202–4, 265–67

  billboards, 170, 267, 310

  billing, 171–72, 184–85

  Bing, 181–82

  biodiversity, 146–47

  biological realism, 253–54

  biotechnology, 11–13, 17, 18, 109–10, 162, 330–31

  Bitcoin, 34n

  BitTorrent, 223

  blackmail, 61, 172–73, 207, 273, 314, 316, 322

  Black Monday, 74

  blogs, 118n, 120, 225, 245, 259, 349, 350

  books, 1–2, 62, 63, 65, 113, 182, 192, 193, 246–47, 277–78, 281, 347, 352–60

  bots, 62, 63, 64, 147–48

  brain function, 195–96, 260, 328

  brain scans, 111–12, 218, 367

  Brand, Stewart, 214

  brand advertising, 267

  Brandeis, Louis, 25, 208

  Brazil, 54

  Brooks, David, 326

  Burma, 200n

  Burning Man, 132

  Bush, George H. W., 149

  Bush, Vannevar, 221n

  business data, 112–13, 150, 189

  business plans, 107–8, 117–20, 154, 169–74, 175, 236, 258, 301–2, 344–45

  cached data mirrors, 223

  Cage, John, 212

  California, University of, at Berkeley, 104, 107–8, 111, 172

  call centers, 177n

  Caltech, 94, 184

  Cambri
dge, Mass., 157–58

  cameras, 2, 10, 89, 265, 309–11, 319

  capital flows, 37, 43–45, 47, 49, 201, 329, 355–56

  capitalism, 11, 16–17, 20, 43–46, 47, 49, 66–67, 79, 208, 243, 246–48, 258, 260–63, 272, 273n, 277, 329

  capital resources, 86

  “captured” populations, 170–71

  carbon credits, 87, 88, 298–99, 300, 301–3, 314

  cartels, 158

  Catholic Church, 190

  cell phones, 34n, 39, 85, 87, 162, 172, 182n, 192, 229, 269n, 273, 314, 315, 331

  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 199–200

  chance, 23n

  change acceleration, 10, 21, 130–33, 136, 193–95, 217

  chaos, 165–66, 273n, 331

  cheating, 120, 335

  Chicago, Ill., 47

  China, 54, 70, 85, 87, 199, 200, 201, 208

  Christianity, 190, 193–94, 293

  Christian Science, 293

  civility, 293–94

  civilization, 123, 255, 300, 311, 336

  civil liberties, 317–24

  classified ads, 177n

  click-through counts, 183, 286, 347

  clothing, 89, 260, 367

  Cloud Atlas, 165

  cloud processors and storage, 11–12, 19, 20, 42, 62, 88, 92, 100, 110, 113, 121, 124n, 144, 146n, 147, 149, 151, 153–54, 168, 203, 209, 245–46, 255, 258, 261–62, 274, 284, 292, 306, 311–13, 326, 338, 347–48, 350, 359

  code, 112, 272

  cognition, 111–12, 195–96, 260, 312–13, 314, 315, 328

  Cold War, 189

  Coleman, Ornette, 353

  collectives, 358–60

  collusion, 65–66, 72, 169–74, 255, 350–51

  Columbia Records, 161n

  commercial rights, 317–24, 347

  commissions, 184

  communications industry, 258

  communism, 136, 153, 291, 344

  compensatory servers, 64

  competition, 42, 60, 81, 143–44, 147, 153, 180, 181, 187–88, 246–48, 326

  complexity, 53–54

  Computer Lib/Dream Machines (Nelson), 229

  computer programmers, 113–14, 123, 286n

  computers:

  artificiality of, 130, 134

  calculations by, 146n, 147–48, 149, 151

  cloud processors and, see cloud processors and storage

  development of, 53, 129–30

  as machines, 22–25, 123, 129–30, 155, 158, 165–66, 178, 191, 193, 195, 248, 257–58, 261, 328