You Are Not a Gadget

Check out this interview with Jaron Lanier from Library Journal

Jaron Lanier is one smart dude.  He is way smarter than me or anyone I know.  He is also concerned; VERY concerned about where our current technology is taking us culturally, spiritually, and economically.  In his book, You Are Not a Gadget, Lanier describes a thing called lock-in wherein certain software is designed to fit within an existing one and gets “locked” into place simply because nothing better was ever invented and because it would be too difficult to change the existing model.   As a result we become complacent and accept that there is only one model even though that model might not be ideal.  A lot of web 2.0 designs fit this description.  This is a problem because while these trivial designs seem innovative and seem to promote limitless freedom of personal expression, in reality the communication is impersonal, fragmentary, and made to fit within the pre-set boundaries of the design thereby making authentic interpersonal communication obsolete.

A new philosophy is borne out this complacency and lock-in, something he refers to as the “hive mind” or the collective brain of all the people on the internet.  Because anonymity and pseudonymity are built into the designs, people, as individuals, cease to become the important commodity, making the “network” more real than the individuals who contribute to it.  It also allows for people to behave badly since there can be no consequence for a non-entity.  We begin to define ourselves as multiple choice options that the standardized software programs offer us.  We become flat and one-dimensional; defined by the software. He rejects the idea that the intellectual contributions of the collective mind are superior to the individual (something that Clay Shirky calls Cognitive Surplus) and warns against falling into this misguided mindset.

Within this new “open” and “free” culture, we are trading in the original artist or expert in exchange for the ability to “mash-up” so-called new products from already existing ones.  This is leading us to a dark age culturally because nothing truly new is being created.  The idea that all information should be free is actually the cause for mediocrity.  The hive mind cannot produce what one creative individual can and there is no capital incentive anymore for the true innovators to create.  We can already see this in the music and publishing industries. He proposes a universal system in which bits have value and are no longer free.

He believes the most important thing to ask about technology is how it changes us.  It may seem he is anti-technology, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.  Lanier is one of the pioneers of virtual reality and has been involved in countless cutting-edge projects that have shaped the present state of digital technology.  He simply wants people to realize that there can be alternatives to the current design(s)-alternatives that celebrate humanity, human kindness, and individual intelligence.

You Are Not a Gadget is a heavy, intellectually-challenging read, but definitely worth it.  Reading Jaron Lanier will expand your mind.  There is just no getting around it.

Lanier, J. (2010). You are not a gadget: A manifesto. New York: A.A. Knopf.