The internet’s ‘evil’ designers made it as addictive as opioids. But it is also ‘a delayed achievement of the Enlightenment’
- Justin Smith has issues with the internet – its algorithms curb our sense of inquiry and it allows the manipulation of public opinions to malign ends, he says
- On the other hand, the author of a new book about the internet admits, there are benefits to its making ‘all the information in the world available’
The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is: A History, A Philosophy, A Warning by Justin E.H. Smith pub. Princeton University Press
If you’re feeling a vague sense of disquiet at the omnipresent and invasive nature of the internet, reading this book may make clear exactly what it is you dread.
As Justin E.H. Smith, a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the University of Paris, points out, we are so distracted by the internet, and distracted so thoroughly, that we often fail even to notice we are being distracted.
Algorithms curb our sense of inquiry by repeatedly showing us things similar to those we’ve already seen, and they reduce our ability to develop our tastes or opinions. A lack of oversight produces negative effects on political freedoms by allowing the manipulation of public opinion to malign ends. And the internet has become a surveillance device incompatible with freedom.
In The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is: A History, A Philosophy, A Warning Smith forcefully musters these familiar concerns into a ringing moral indictment.
“The charge here is that the internet contributes to the limitation of freedom in all of these respects,” he says. “As such, the internet is anti-human. If we could put it on trial, its crime would be a crime against humanity.”
