Reading
Attendees at Loreena’s performances have heard her speak of several important books. You can learn more about them here. If you have any thoughts or comments, we welcome them to postmaster@quinlanroad.com.
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Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (by Brian Merchant) Today, technology imperils millions of jobs, robots are crowding factory floors, and artificial intelligence will soon pervade every aspect of our economy. How will this change the way we live? And what can we do about it? 🇺🇸 Barnes & Noble Ask your local bookseller for ISBN-13: 9780316487740 |
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The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (by Nicholas Carr) Is Google making us stupid? When Nicholas Carr posed that question in a celebrated Atlantic essay, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the internet’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? 🇺🇸 Barnes & Noble Ask your local bookseller for ISBN-13: 9780393357820 |
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A Short History of Progress (by Ronald Wright) Ronald Wright argues that our modern predicament is as old as civilization, a 10,000-year experiment we have participated in but seldom controlled. Only by understanding the patterns of triumph and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we recognize the experiment’s inherent dangers, and, with luck and wisdom, shape its outcome. 🇺🇸 Barnes & Noble Ask your local bookseller for ISBN-13: 9781487006983 The 2004 CBC Massey Lectures, “A Short History of Progress” LISTEN |
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Reset: Reclaiming The Internet For Civil Society (by Ronald J. Deibert) Digital technologies have given rise to a new machine-based civilization that is increasingly linked to a growing number of social and political maladies. Accountability is weak and insecurity is endemic, creating disturbing opportunities for exploitation. Deibert exposes the impacts of this communications ecosystem on civil society. He tracks a mostly unregulated surveillance industry, innovations in technologies of remote control, superpower policing practices, dark PR firms, and highly profitable hack-for-hire services feeding off rivers of poorly secured personal data. Deibert also unearths how dependence on social media and its expanding universe of consumer electronics creates immense pressure on the natural environment. In order to combat authoritarian practices, environmental degradation, and rampant electronic consumerism, he urges restraints on tech platforms and governments to reclaim the internet for civil society. 🇺🇸 Barnes & Noble Ask your local bookseller for ISBN-13: 9781487008086 The 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, “Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society” LISTEN |
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The Power of One: How I Found the Strength to Tell the Truth and Why I Blew the Whistle on Facebook (by Frances Haugen) The inside story of one woman’s quest to bring transparency and accountability to Big Tech, by the Facebook whistleblower who is determined to help us all retake control of our lives. Facebook knew it had accidentally changed its algorithm to reward extremism and refused to fix it; it knew that its customers were using the platform to foment violence, to spread falsehoods, to diminish the self-esteem of young women, and more. 🇺🇸 Barnes & Noble Ask your local bookseller for ISBN-13: 9780316475228 |
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