We already know how much of our data is collected and used to profile and target us. ¿The real
question is why knowing all this do we keep going back for more? 'Great book' - Matt Ridley
author of How Innovation Works 'Essential reading' - Pete Etchells author of Unlocked 'An
urgent must-read' - Tiffany Jenkins author and broadcaster presenter of BBC Radio 4's A
History of Secrecy 'Enticing and highly addictive' - Stephen Senn statistician and author of
Dicing with Death 'A pleasure to read' - Stian Westlake Executive Chair Economic and Social
Research Council Technology has delivered a world that we expect to revolve around us our
needs and preferences and our unique personalities. We willingly hand over intimate
information about ourselves in return for a world that's easier to navigate. We live in the
Personalised Century where we view ourselves in terms of what rather than who we are - the
objects of others' recognition rather than the subjects and authors of our own lives. Is this
a sign of our shrinking sense of self? Interrogating the historical currents that have brought
us here Harkness envisages a messier riskier and less comfortable world than the one into
which we're sliding. Challenging readers to look at what's missing from their personalised
menus Technology is not the Problem encourages us to look afresh at the familiar: not just the
technology we use every day how we relate to the world and those around us.
