\n| Add caption<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Book: The Internet Is Not the Answer <\/span><\/b> <\/p>\nAuthor: Andrew Keen <\/span><\/b><\/div>\nPublisher: Atlantic (2015)<\/span><\/b><\/div>\nISBN: 978-0-8021-2313-8<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n If the history of modern societies was to be simplified into one thread, it would be most likely the story of people in the service of profit and power. <\/span><\/div>\nAs a virus will go through serial mutations just to evade detection, replicate itself and debilitate its host, capitalism has thrown on many forms but the organising principle remains suspiciously similar.<\/span><\/div>\nCreative destruction, the disruptive cycle of reinvention observed by economist Joseph Schumpeter, remains the summative profile of capitalism. <\/span><\/div>\nFrom institutions which licence the rich to hunt poor people\u2019s herds, to decoy narratives and stratagems of co-optation, volumes come new but seldom different in the lapse of history.<\/span><\/div>\nWith the viral mode of capitalism in mind, sceptics are asking whether the universal conquest of digital technology is not the latest mutation of global capitalism.<\/span><\/div>\nSuch a possibility can never be an easy sell considering the earth-size halo currently surrounding information and communication technologies (ICTs) because of the connectivity, convenience and reliability it has ushered in. <\/span><\/div>\nAll the same, a tide of discontent is swelling around Silicon Valley, calling out its architects for championing profit over people like the industrialists and oil companies before them. <\/span><\/div>\nIf that sounds like an unsustainable claim, then \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d a 2015 critique of the digital world order by Andrew Keen, may be the argument to grapple with.<\/span><\/div>\nKeen puts down the characterisation of the Internet as an essentially benign, progressive and open society in tech-themed eulogies to a figment of fantasy.<\/span><\/div>\nThe main premise of the book is that the digitally driven economics of the day are tending towards inequality rather than correcting it.<\/span><\/div>\nThe selfie-centred network is faulted as a socially corrosive, economically debilitating and politically creepy underworld of surveillance, deception, narcissism and consumerism. <\/span><\/div>\nKeen has levelled sustained assaults against the Internet, beginning with \u201cThe Cult of the Amateur\u201d in 2007.<\/span><\/div>\nBut like many in the trenches with him, it seems the harder he tries, the more he looks like a Lilliputian at the base of the ever-swelling, cosmic bubble of digitisation.<\/span><\/div>\nWhen I read Keen\u2019s debut two years ago, it came across as refreshing dissent to the technological determinism which seems to be washing away human agency from every sector, but I could not help noticing that most of his moments of vision had been overtaken by game-changing innovations.<\/span><\/div>\nIn 2007, he could afford to ignore a three-year old Facebook, rather directing his more urgent polemics at YouTube and Wikipedia, but now the dorm-room application is not only out of its swaddling bands: it is one of the elephants in the digital room.<\/span><\/div>\nThe changes speak to Robert McChesney\u2019s admission that unwiring the Internet is like trying to shoot a moving target in the fog. There is not just the hustle and clutter of the Internet, but also disruptive innovation to deal with.<\/span><\/div>\nKeen debuted as an eccentric writer given to hubris and prejudice but one could still marvel at his articulate and incisive missiles against what seems to be a universal contract.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d his third consecutive assault on the universal Minotaur, brings back the eccentricity but less immodesty and there finally seems to be more data than prejudice to the new debate.<\/span><\/div>\nThe downside of the book is that Keen can go on a riff about an anecdote, dropping down unconvincing new words like \u201cunstore,\u201d \u201cuncompany,\u201d \u201cunclub,\u201d and a lot more. The method in the madness does not seem to hold.<\/span><\/div>\nFar too intimate claims about individuals like Mark Zuckerberg also betray prejudice and do not seem to help the argument. <\/span><\/div>\nHowever, there are many credible nuggets in the tome. Keen argues that as the world gets increasingly connected on the digital network, the less economic value it holds for the majority.<\/span><\/div>\nContrary to promoting economic fairness, digital technology is faulted as the central reason for the growing gulf between haves and the have-nots and the hollowing out of the middle class. <\/span><\/div>\n\u201cRather than making us wealthier, the distributed capitalism of the new networked economy is making most of us poorer,\u201d Keen points out. The pauperisation of artists in Zimbabwe is a solid case in point.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201cRather than generating more jobs, this digital disruption is a principal cause of our structural unemployment crisis. Rather than creating more competition, it has created immensely powerful new monopolists like Google and Amazon,\u201d Keen protests.<\/span><\/div>\nKeen\u2019s case dovetails with the global technopolies\u2019 ongoing tax avoidance storm, despite insistence by critics that such tactics are not without victims in the host countries.<\/span><\/div>\nIn addition to long-term implications of technologies such as self-driving cars on jobs, Keen takes on the not so flattering employment records of the technopolies.<\/span><\/div>\nHe points out that since users are inadvertently working for Facebook and Google for free by giving up the personal data that makes their companies profitable, the companies do not have to employ numbers proportionate with their vast share of the market.<\/span><\/div>\nAmazon\u2019s disdain of people for profit is particularly legendary. Keen observes that the firm\u2019s hyperefficient work culture has created serious problems of permanently injured workers.<\/span><\/div>\nIn 2013, 1,300 Amazon workers organised a series of strikes over pay, working conditions and a Big Brother firm hired to police the company\u2019s distribution centres.<\/span><\/div>\nBBC\u2019s undercover investigation into an Amazon warehouse during the same year revealed harsh working conditions that an expert warned could lead to mental and physical illness for workers. <\/span><\/div>\nKeen suggests that libertarian venture capitalists do not care about worker receiving no compensation for stress fractures or veteran employees being summarily fired on returning medical leave but only the phenomenally swelling value of their investments. <\/span><\/div>\nGoogle was around seven times bigger than General Motors as at 2014, but employs less than a quarter of the number of workers employed by the latter.<\/span><\/div>\nKeen notes that the global economy\u2019s top five companies, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and Samsung grossed $387 billion early 2014, which equalled the 2013 GDP of the United Arab Emirates.<\/span><\/div>\nYet the companies are blasted as latter-day Scrooges, with wealth being concentrated into the hands of an extreme minority at the expense of jobs. <\/span><\/div>\nBloomberg\u2019s \u201cTech Hubris\u201d issue reported top technology firms sending their differences to the devil just to be united against their workers.<\/span><\/div>\nThe implications are equally unsettling for several industries. The digital holocaust has significantly disrupted newspaper, music, telecommunications, movie, publishing and retail industries and is poised to move into education, finance, transportation, health care, politics and manufacturing.<\/span><\/div>\nIt seems that only one course has been defined for mankind, that of a progressively digital future, but besides the convenience it promises, it has the mind but not the soul. <\/span><\/div>\nWhen robots and computers line up to kick people out of their jobs, it means the digital future is not a human future. <\/span><\/div>\n\u201cIts cultural ramifications are equally chilling. Rather than creating transparency and openness, the Internet is creating a panopticon of information-gathering and surveillance services in which we, the users of big data networks like Facebook, have been packaged as their all-too-transparent product,\u201d Keen protests.<\/span><\/div>\nHe refutes the idea that the social network is renaissance\u2019s new frontier and puts it down to a site of selfie-centred voyeurism and narcissism. He faults the assumption that digital technology has established diversity and points out that that the real winners are few young white men in black limousines. <\/span><\/div>\nWhat does this mean for Zimbabwe as we anticipate our STEMised future? Chiefly, that technological advancement must be human-centred instead of being profit-driven whatever the values at stake.<\/span><\/div>\nOur only advantage for being in laggard mode at this point is that we have options until we choose. The West got lost when national interest initiatives were weaned into a winner-take-all combat zone. <\/span><\/div>\nSTEM must not be only for the digital future but also the human future.<\/span><\/div>\nStanely Mushava blogs at upstreamafrica.blogspot.com<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Add caption Book: The Internet Is Not the Answer Author: Andrew Keen Publisher: Atlantic (2015) ISBN: 978-0-8021-2313-8 If the history of modern societies was to be simplified into one thread, it would be most likely the story of people in the service of profit and power. As a virus will go through serial mutations just to evade detection, replicate itself and debilitate its host, capitalism has thrown on many forms but the organising principle remains suspiciously similar. Creative destruction, the disruptive cycle of reinvention observed by economist Joseph Schumpeter, remains the summative profile of capitalism. From institutions which licence the rich to hunt poor people\u2019s herds, to decoy narratives and stratagems of co-optation, volumes come new but seldom different in the lapse of history. With the viral mode of capitalism in mind, sceptics are asking whether the universal conquest of digital technology is not the latest mutation of global capitalism. Such a possibility can never be an easy sell considering the earth-size halo currently surrounding information and communication technologies (ICTs) because of the connectivity, convenience and reliability it has ushered in. All the same, a tide of discontent is swelling around Silicon Valley, calling out its architects for championing profit over people like the industrialists and oil companies before them. If that sounds like an unsustainable claim, then \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d a 2015 critique of the digital world order by Andrew Keen, may be the argument to grapple with. Keen puts down the characterisation of the Internet as an essentially benign, progressive and open society in tech-themed eulogies to a figment of fantasy. The main premise of the book is that the digitally driven economics of the day are tending towards inequality rather than correcting it. The selfie-centred network is faulted as a socially corrosive, economically debilitating and politically creepy underworld of surveillance, deception, narcissism and consumerism. Keen has levelled sustained assaults against the Internet, beginning with \u201cThe Cult of the Amateur\u201d in 2007. But like many in the trenches with him, it seems the harder he tries, the more he looks like a Lilliputian at the base of the ever-swelling, cosmic bubble of digitisation. When I read Keen\u2019s debut two years ago, it came across as refreshing dissent to the technological determinism which seems to be washing away human agency from every sector, but I could not help noticing that most of his moments of vision had been overtaken by game-changing innovations. In 2007, he could afford to ignore a three-year old Facebook, rather directing his more urgent polemics at YouTube and Wikipedia, but now the dorm-room application is not only out of its swaddling bands: it is one of the elephants in the digital room. The changes speak to Robert McChesney\u2019s admission that unwiring the Internet is like trying to shoot a moving target in the fog. There is not just the hustle and clutter of the Internet, but also disruptive innovation to deal with. Keen debuted as an eccentric writer given to hubris and prejudice but one could still marvel at his articulate and incisive missiles against what seems to be a universal contract. \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d his third consecutive assault on the universal Minotaur, brings back the eccentricity but less immodesty and there finally seems to be more data than prejudice to the new debate. The downside of the book is that Keen can go on a riff about an anecdote, dropping down unconvincing new words like \u201cunstore,\u201d \u201cuncompany,\u201d \u201cunclub,\u201d and a lot more. The method in the madness does not seem to hold. Far too intimate claims about individuals like Mark Zuckerberg also betray prejudice and do not seem to help the argument. However, there are many credible nuggets in the tome. Keen argues that as the world gets increasingly connected on the digital network, the less economic value it holds for the majority. Contrary to promoting economic fairness, digital technology is faulted as the central reason for the growing gulf between haves and the have-nots and the hollowing out of the middle class. \u201cRather than making us wealthier, the distributed capitalism of the new networked economy is making most of us poorer,\u201d Keen points out. The pauperisation of artists in Zimbabwe is a solid case in point. \u201cRather than generating more jobs, this digital disruption is a principal cause of our structural unemployment crisis. Rather than creating more competition, it has created immensely powerful new monopolists like Google and Amazon,\u201d Keen protests. Keen\u2019s case dovetails with the global technopolies\u2019 ongoing tax avoidance storm, despite insistence by critics that such tactics are not without victims in the host countries. In addition to long-term implications of technologies such as self-driving cars on jobs, Keen takes on the not so flattering employment records of the technopolies. He points out that since users are inadvertently working for Facebook and Google for free by giving up the personal data that makes their companies profitable, the companies do not have to employ numbers proportionate with their vast share of the market. Amazon\u2019s disdain of people for profit is particularly legendary. Keen observes that the firm\u2019s hyperefficient work culture has created serious problems of permanently injured workers. In 2013, 1,300 Amazon workers organised a series of strikes over pay, working conditions and a Big Brother firm hired to police the company\u2019s distribution centres. BBC\u2019s undercover investigation into an Amazon warehouse during the same year revealed harsh working conditions that an expert warned could lead to mental and physical illness for workers. Keen suggests that libertarian venture capitalists do not care about worker receiving no compensation for stress fractures or veteran employees being summarily fired on returning medical leave but only the phenomenally swelling value of their investments. Google was around seven times bigger than General Motors as at 2014, but employs less than a quarter of the number of workers employed by the latter. Keen notes that the global economy\u2019s top five companies, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and Samsung grossed $387 billion early 2014,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-tech"],"yoast_head":"\n Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet | Blockspace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet | Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Add caption Book: The Internet Is Not the Answer Author: Andrew Keen Publisher: Atlantic (2015) ISBN: 978-0-8021-2313-8 If the history of modern societies was to be simplified into one thread, it would be most likely the story of people in the service of profit and power. As a virus will go through serial mutations just to evade detection, replicate itself and debilitate its host, capitalism has thrown on many forms but the organising principle remains suspiciously similar. Creative destruction, the disruptive cycle of reinvention observed by economist Joseph Schumpeter, remains the summative profile of capitalism. From institutions which licence the rich to hunt poor people\u2019s herds, to decoy narratives and stratagems of co-optation, volumes come new but seldom different in the lapse of history. With the viral mode of capitalism in mind, sceptics are asking whether the universal conquest of digital technology is not the latest mutation of global capitalism. Such a possibility can never be an easy sell considering the earth-size halo currently surrounding information and communication technologies (ICTs) because of the connectivity, convenience and reliability it has ushered in. All the same, a tide of discontent is swelling around Silicon Valley, calling out its architects for championing profit over people like the industrialists and oil companies before them. If that sounds like an unsustainable claim, then \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d a 2015 critique of the digital world order by Andrew Keen, may be the argument to grapple with. Keen puts down the characterisation of the Internet as an essentially benign, progressive and open society in tech-themed eulogies to a figment of fantasy. The main premise of the book is that the digitally driven economics of the day are tending towards inequality rather than correcting it. The selfie-centred network is faulted as a socially corrosive, economically debilitating and politically creepy underworld of surveillance, deception, narcissism and consumerism. Keen has levelled sustained assaults against the Internet, beginning with \u201cThe Cult of the Amateur\u201d in 2007. But like many in the trenches with him, it seems the harder he tries, the more he looks like a Lilliputian at the base of the ever-swelling, cosmic bubble of digitisation. When I read Keen\u2019s debut two years ago, it came across as refreshing dissent to the technological determinism which seems to be washing away human agency from every sector, but I could not help noticing that most of his moments of vision had been overtaken by game-changing innovations. In 2007, he could afford to ignore a three-year old Facebook, rather directing his more urgent polemics at YouTube and Wikipedia, but now the dorm-room application is not only out of its swaddling bands: it is one of the elephants in the digital room. The changes speak to Robert McChesney\u2019s admission that unwiring the Internet is like trying to shoot a moving target in the fog. There is not just the hustle and clutter of the Internet, but also disruptive innovation to deal with. Keen debuted as an eccentric writer given to hubris and prejudice but one could still marvel at his articulate and incisive missiles against what seems to be a universal contract. \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d his third consecutive assault on the universal Minotaur, brings back the eccentricity but less immodesty and there finally seems to be more data than prejudice to the new debate. The downside of the book is that Keen can go on a riff about an anecdote, dropping down unconvincing new words like \u201cunstore,\u201d \u201cuncompany,\u201d \u201cunclub,\u201d and a lot more. The method in the madness does not seem to hold. Far too intimate claims about individuals like Mark Zuckerberg also betray prejudice and do not seem to help the argument. However, there are many credible nuggets in the tome. Keen argues that as the world gets increasingly connected on the digital network, the less economic value it holds for the majority. Contrary to promoting economic fairness, digital technology is faulted as the central reason for the growing gulf between haves and the have-nots and the hollowing out of the middle class. \u201cRather than making us wealthier, the distributed capitalism of the new networked economy is making most of us poorer,\u201d Keen points out. The pauperisation of artists in Zimbabwe is a solid case in point. \u201cRather than generating more jobs, this digital disruption is a principal cause of our structural unemployment crisis. Rather than creating more competition, it has created immensely powerful new monopolists like Google and Amazon,\u201d Keen protests. Keen\u2019s case dovetails with the global technopolies\u2019 ongoing tax avoidance storm, despite insistence by critics that such tactics are not without victims in the host countries. In addition to long-term implications of technologies such as self-driving cars on jobs, Keen takes on the not so flattering employment records of the technopolies. He points out that since users are inadvertently working for Facebook and Google for free by giving up the personal data that makes their companies profitable, the companies do not have to employ numbers proportionate with their vast share of the market. Amazon\u2019s disdain of people for profit is particularly legendary. Keen observes that the firm\u2019s hyperefficient work culture has created serious problems of permanently injured workers. In 2013, 1,300 Amazon workers organised a series of strikes over pay, working conditions and a Big Brother firm hired to police the company\u2019s distribution centres. BBC\u2019s undercover investigation into an Amazon warehouse during the same year revealed harsh working conditions that an expert warned could lead to mental and physical illness for workers. Keen suggests that libertarian venture capitalists do not care about worker receiving no compensation for stress fractures or veteran employees being summarily fired on returning medical leave but only the phenomenally swelling value of their investments. Google was around seven times bigger than General Motors as at 2014, but employs less than a quarter of the number of workers employed by the latter. Keen notes that the global economy\u2019s top five companies, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and Samsung grossed $387 billion early 2014,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-16T16:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-25T14:57:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hardsouth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hardsouth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hardsouth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0\"},\"headline\":\"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-16T16:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-25T14:57:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410\"},\"wordCount\":1330,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\\\/images\\\/I\\\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Tech\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410\",\"name\":\"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet | Blockspace\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\\\/images\\\/I\\\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-16T16:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-25T14:57:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\\\/images\\\/I\\\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\\\/images\\\/I\\\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=410#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blockspace\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0\",\"name\":\"hardsouth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a41ab3776091878d9ebe7b7c14ed7e21b52e50dabd4a368463ca3431f015799a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a41ab3776091878d9ebe7b7c14ed7e21b52e50dabd4a368463ca3431f015799a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a41ab3776091878d9ebe7b7c14ed7e21b52e50dabd4a368463ca3431f015799a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"hardsouth\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet | Blockspace","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet | Blockspace","og_description":"Add caption Book: The Internet Is Not the Answer Author: Andrew Keen Publisher: Atlantic (2015) ISBN: 978-0-8021-2313-8 If the history of modern societies was to be simplified into one thread, it would be most likely the story of people in the service of profit and power. As a virus will go through serial mutations just to evade detection, replicate itself and debilitate its host, capitalism has thrown on many forms but the organising principle remains suspiciously similar. Creative destruction, the disruptive cycle of reinvention observed by economist Joseph Schumpeter, remains the summative profile of capitalism. From institutions which licence the rich to hunt poor people\u2019s herds, to decoy narratives and stratagems of co-optation, volumes come new but seldom different in the lapse of history. With the viral mode of capitalism in mind, sceptics are asking whether the universal conquest of digital technology is not the latest mutation of global capitalism. Such a possibility can never be an easy sell considering the earth-size halo currently surrounding information and communication technologies (ICTs) because of the connectivity, convenience and reliability it has ushered in. All the same, a tide of discontent is swelling around Silicon Valley, calling out its architects for championing profit over people like the industrialists and oil companies before them. If that sounds like an unsustainable claim, then \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d a 2015 critique of the digital world order by Andrew Keen, may be the argument to grapple with. Keen puts down the characterisation of the Internet as an essentially benign, progressive and open society in tech-themed eulogies to a figment of fantasy. The main premise of the book is that the digitally driven economics of the day are tending towards inequality rather than correcting it. The selfie-centred network is faulted as a socially corrosive, economically debilitating and politically creepy underworld of surveillance, deception, narcissism and consumerism. Keen has levelled sustained assaults against the Internet, beginning with \u201cThe Cult of the Amateur\u201d in 2007. But like many in the trenches with him, it seems the harder he tries, the more he looks like a Lilliputian at the base of the ever-swelling, cosmic bubble of digitisation. When I read Keen\u2019s debut two years ago, it came across as refreshing dissent to the technological determinism which seems to be washing away human agency from every sector, but I could not help noticing that most of his moments of vision had been overtaken by game-changing innovations. In 2007, he could afford to ignore a three-year old Facebook, rather directing his more urgent polemics at YouTube and Wikipedia, but now the dorm-room application is not only out of its swaddling bands: it is one of the elephants in the digital room. The changes speak to Robert McChesney\u2019s admission that unwiring the Internet is like trying to shoot a moving target in the fog. There is not just the hustle and clutter of the Internet, but also disruptive innovation to deal with. Keen debuted as an eccentric writer given to hubris and prejudice but one could still marvel at his articulate and incisive missiles against what seems to be a universal contract. \u201cThe Internet Is Not the Answer,\u201d his third consecutive assault on the universal Minotaur, brings back the eccentricity but less immodesty and there finally seems to be more data than prejudice to the new debate. The downside of the book is that Keen can go on a riff about an anecdote, dropping down unconvincing new words like \u201cunstore,\u201d \u201cuncompany,\u201d \u201cunclub,\u201d and a lot more. The method in the madness does not seem to hold. Far too intimate claims about individuals like Mark Zuckerberg also betray prejudice and do not seem to help the argument. However, there are many credible nuggets in the tome. Keen argues that as the world gets increasingly connected on the digital network, the less economic value it holds for the majority. Contrary to promoting economic fairness, digital technology is faulted as the central reason for the growing gulf between haves and the have-nots and the hollowing out of the middle class. \u201cRather than making us wealthier, the distributed capitalism of the new networked economy is making most of us poorer,\u201d Keen points out. The pauperisation of artists in Zimbabwe is a solid case in point. \u201cRather than generating more jobs, this digital disruption is a principal cause of our structural unemployment crisis. Rather than creating more competition, it has created immensely powerful new monopolists like Google and Amazon,\u201d Keen protests. Keen\u2019s case dovetails with the global technopolies\u2019 ongoing tax avoidance storm, despite insistence by critics that such tactics are not without victims in the host countries. In addition to long-term implications of technologies such as self-driving cars on jobs, Keen takes on the not so flattering employment records of the technopolies. He points out that since users are inadvertently working for Facebook and Google for free by giving up the personal data that makes their companies profitable, the companies do not have to employ numbers proportionate with their vast share of the market. Amazon\u2019s disdain of people for profit is particularly legendary. Keen observes that the firm\u2019s hyperefficient work culture has created serious problems of permanently injured workers. In 2013, 1,300 Amazon workers organised a series of strikes over pay, working conditions and a Big Brother firm hired to police the company\u2019s distribution centres. BBC\u2019s undercover investigation into an Amazon warehouse during the same year revealed harsh working conditions that an expert warned could lead to mental and physical illness for workers. Keen suggests that libertarian venture capitalists do not care about worker receiving no compensation for stress fractures or veteran employees being summarily fired on returning medical leave but only the phenomenally swelling value of their investments. Google was around seven times bigger than General Motors as at 2014, but employs less than a quarter of the number of workers employed by the latter. Keen notes that the global economy\u2019s top five companies, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon and Samsung grossed $387 billion early 2014,","og_url":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410","og_site_name":"Blockspace","article_published_time":"2016-06-16T16:22:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-25T14:57:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"hardsouth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"hardsouth","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410"},"author":{"name":"hardsouth","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0"},"headline":"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet","datePublished":"2016-06-16T16:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-25T14:57:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410"},"wordCount":1330,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg","articleSection":["Books","Tech"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410","url":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410","name":"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet | Blockspace","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-16T16:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-25T14:57:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=410#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Occupy Silicon Valley: Unwiring the Internet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/","name":"Blockspace","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0","name":"hardsouth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a41ab3776091878d9ebe7b7c14ed7e21b52e50dabd4a368463ca3431f015799a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a41ab3776091878d9ebe7b7c14ed7e21b52e50dabd4a368463ca3431f015799a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a41ab3776091878d9ebe7b7c14ed7e21b52e50dabd4a368463ca3431f015799a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"hardsouth"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com"],"url":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?author=1"}]}},"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"18":{"name":"Books","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?cat=18"},"7":{"name":"Tech","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?cat=7"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3216,"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/3216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |
![\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h-uBHWqML._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n