EAN: 9780691235219

THE INTERNET IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS - JUST...

An original deep history of the internet that tells the story of the centuries-old utopian
dreams behind it--and explains why they have died today Many think of the internet as an
unprecedented and overwhelmingly positive achievement of modern human technology. But is it? In
The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is  Justin Smith offers an original deep history of the
internet  from the ancient to the modern world--uncovering its surprising origins in nature and
centuries-old dreams of radically improving human life by outsourcing thinking to machines and
communicating across vast distances. Yet  despite the internet's continuing potential  Smith
argues  the utopian hopes behind it have finally died today  killed by the harsh realities of
social media  the global information economy  and the attention-destroying nature of networked
technology. Ranging over centuries of the history and philosophy of science and technology 
Smith shows how the internet has been with us much longer than we usually think. He draws
fascinating connections between internet user experience  artificial intelligence  the
invention of the printing press  communication between trees  and the origins of computing in
the machine-driven looms of the silk industry. At the same time  he reveals how the internet's
organic structure and development root it in the natural world in unexpected ways that
challenge efforts to draw an easy line between technology and nature. Combining the sweep of
intellectual history with the incisiveness of philosophy  The Internet Is Not What You Think It
Is cuts through our daily digital lives to give a clear-sighted picture of what the internet is
where it came from  and where it might be taking us in the coming decades.

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