treeme's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

First chapter is a little slow. After that, the book really picks up – surprising given how academic it is! (Unfortunately) the lessons and critics from this book are just as pertinent as they were 10~ years ago. Really enjoyed this work.

marcyewebb's review against another edition

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4.0

I swear Adam Curtis loves this book

ginny1811_'s review against another edition

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2.0

toooooooo many examples god, i think i skipped something like half of the book

pgck's review against another edition

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5.0

Excellently argued, and a book which many of the engineering people I know would do well to read.

skvrnami's review against another edition

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5.0

Prvních pár kapitol sice vypadá jako seznam lidí, co se mýlí, pak ho ale vystřídá šžíravá kritika solucionismu a internet-centrismu ukazující omezenost obvyklých technologických náprav problémů, které možná ani nejsou problémy, pomocí řešení, která přinášejí (nepředvídatelné?) důsledky s daleko závažnějšími dopady než měly původní problémy. A jako bonus úžasně kousavé Morozovovy poznámky.
Pochopitelně Morozov nenabízí (na rozdíl od lidí, které kritizuje) žádné jednoduché řešení. Ale otázky, které vyvstávají, jsou good enough. Chceme žít ve světě řízeném algoritmy zvyšující efektivitu ~ je efektivita tím primárním cílem, kterého chceme dosáhnout? Fakt chceme gamifikovat velkou část našich životů? A je fér vyvíjet mobilní aplikace, které se snaží dotlačit lidi k hubnutí díky odměňování jejich fyzických aktivit, zatímco ignorují strukturální problémy (tzn. že chudí jedí častěji junk food, protože jsou chudí a lepší jídlo si nemůžou dovolit)? A nakonec: kde se dá sehnat lampička Forget Me Not (https://vimeo.com/30893887)?

ferdydurke's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

jpowerj's review against another edition

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4.0

Hm... this book is really all over the place, on the level of like Neil Postman, so it's hard to give one overarching review. But I'd say that, like Postman's writing, this book has tons of incredibly poignant bright spots mixed with some incredibly overstated not-very-strong points. It goes without saying, though, that when trying to tackle a topic like this where we honestly don't have a lot of vocabulary to talk about these emerging "Internet"-centric ideas, some points are inevitably going to be muddled. So all in all I think it's an incredibly well-done first step towards a fully-fleshed-out critique of Silicon Valley solutionism and "Internet"-centrism, and I really hope that more and more people continue exploring and critiquing the threads that Morozov lays out here.

martinmonstera's review against another edition

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The point the author argues for is fine, albeit not new to me. But why would you need a whole book to make the point that the blurb already perfectly summarises?

shayneh's review against another edition

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4.0

Compelling case against "internet-centrism": If somebody tells you the Internet wants/demands something, or we should do something because the Internet does, don't get starstruck! The Internet is a big place, and probably contains counterexamples to whatever's being argued. The Internet hasn't, in fact, changed everything.