Book

You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto

Jan 2010 🇺🇸 Alfred A. Knopf

You Are Not a Gadget is a 2010 manifesto by computer scientist and virtual-reality pioneer Jaron Lanier that questions the era's enthusiasm for 'Web 2.0' crowd-based platforms such as Wikipedia and open-content aggregators. Lanier argues that designing software around anonymous crowds and algorithmic aggregation, rather than identifiable individual voices, is linked to a flattening of online culture and a narrowing of who is credited and paid for original creative work. He warns that treating people as interchangeable data sources for a 'hive mind' can erode individuality and concentrate economic power among aggregating platforms. TechKids Foundation includes this book as an early, foundational statement of Lanier's long-running argument that platform design choices are associated with a widening gap between online content creators and the platforms that profit from their work.

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CITATION

Lanier, Jaron. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.

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