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Posted Nov. 18, 2010 8:00 a.m. by jon
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
Douglas Rushkoff follows his full size, largely distributed Life, Inc. with an indie distributed, smaller book called Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age. The biggest difference though, is not the size or distribution -- but that it may be his most powerful writing yet.
These kinds of questions are the starting points of Rushkoff's book. And his thoughts on these questions are profound, analyzing the situation via both current sociological insight, and ancient principles. It's an important read.
Use this brief Q&A we exchanged today as reference, and be sure to pick up the book.
The attraction to technology is largely based on how we perceive it makes our lives easier. What do you see as the fundamental issue with that perception?
Technology creates more choice. Sometimes this is great, but sometimes it's unnecessary or forced. Call-waiting is great, sure. But it forces a person to make a choice between the conversation he is having and the possibility of the other one he *could* be having. That's great for medical emergencies, I suppose. But it puts the current conversation into a less fixed space, always under potential threat.
And all this increased choice would be fine if we were really allowed to choose. Can we choose not to answer emails from the boss or a client after office hours? Sometimes not. So life gets more complex, and often less fun. It's definitely great for everyone else to be tied to these technologies. Everyone except ourselves.
The real attraction to these technologies, I feel, is the social possibility. We hardly experience it anymore, but there is still a great social potential with these tools.
With the internet, Nicholas Carr sees human cognition diminishing, while Clay Shirky sees a surplus. What are your thoughts about what computers are doing to our brains?
I care much less about what computers are doing to our brains than what we are doing to one another's brains *through* computers. Computers are biased in certain ways, but it's people and the programs they make that are either improving or rotting our brains.
So I think Shirky and Carr are both wrong, both too techno-determinist. In the short run, Carr is more right: we are using these tools to make ourselves simpler and stupider, while our machines become more intelligent and more complex. We immediately fill up Shirky's "cognitive surplus" with more meaningless data processing. People do not have more time to think, and if a moment does arise, you can be sure Google Corp will be there to absorb it.
The answer, of course, is for people to begin to use these tools intentionally. But that would mean understanding what the tools can do and what they have been programmed to do. That's why I wrote my book. Businesses are failing, schools are declining, even banks are going bust because they don't understand the very basics of digital technology and culture. So I wrote a mercifully short 140 page book to get them over that hump. The few who do spend the hour to read it will experience all of this a whole lot differently. But it really takes that full hour. I couldn't take people through it in less time -
but most feel they can't afford even the hour - not without more of a guarantee that they'll make a bunch of money within 90 days of closing the cover.
How is communicating with someone across the globe via technology "not real?" If the information exchanged is satisfactory, what's missing?
Well I don't know that it's not real. It's just not in person. So sex, for example (at least for me) works way better in person than over the net. Something about having the other person's body within arm's reach makes the act more intimate and more physical.
The same is true of other kinds of communication. 93% of human communication is non-verbal. 7% is the words. So most online forums really just recreate the sensation of Aspergers', where we can't process any social cues, and can't determine the context of remarks. And even in video, we can't really see what's going on. Has their breathing moved into sync with my own? Are their irises getting bigger or smaller? Are they mirroring my posture? All of the subtle cues that tell us - our highly evolved brains - whether we are gaining or losing rapport are muted.
So sure, exchange data. How many cartons of widgets do we need to send to Utica? But don't think you're actually connecting the way you can in real life.
People used to rebel against "the system." Is that even possible anymore?
Sure it is. Just don't make every choice they're offering. Pick none of the above. Try that for just a day or two and you'll know what it is to be a rebel.
Short of becoming full blown programmers, what are some basic steps individuals can take to be more involved in how they use technology?
Yes of course. That's why I wrote the book. I think that if people learn the ten very basic biases of digital media, they will be in a great position to use it intentionally rather than passively or haphazardly. Just learn the biases - is it biased towards close up or far away? What does it do to scale? How about openness? Once you understand these, you don't really have to know how to program the machines. Then you can get on with programming society.
Jack Covert Selects - Linchpin
Posted Jan. 15, 2010 7:08 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
Seth Godin has a high opinion of you. In his last book, Tribes, he told you that “We need you to lead us.” In his new offering, Linchpin, he asks, “Are you indispensable?” and fully expects that you can be.
In the past, it was safe and even profitable to be a “cog” in the machine. Today, to obtain any kind of security, to truly be valuable, you must try to become a “linchpin.” A linchpin is someone you can’t run the machine without. Though becoming indispensible is not easy, Godin explains why it’s necessary. He traces where our indoctrination into mediocrity comes from, and shows us how to break free of it… however uncomfortable that may be. Godin is ultimately trying to help you reverse that indoctrination and discover the artist you inherently are. If we can do that, we can begin “standing out” in our work rather than “sticking it out” at a job.
The business book genre is changing, allowing a space for titles that change not only the way we look at the workplace, but at the world. In Linchpin, Godin writes early on: “This book is about love and art and change and fear.” It’s an odd thing to read in a business book, but it fits. We spend most of our lives at work in some way or another, and accepting the reality Godin sees (full of opportunity as it may be) can be daunting. He’s asking us to abandon a way of thinking about ourselves, and the “factory model” of work that we were raised in.
It seems that some business authors have come to an epiphany that how we all go to work is how we build our society, that the building blocks of business are placed on the foundation of something larger. Here we have Godin telling us we need to abandon the factory model and mindset. Last year Douglas Rushkoff challenged the corporate model we define our very lives with in Life, Inc. The useful “nuts and bolts” business books that helps us focus on a specific problem at work aren’t going away, but there are more books than ever addressing the larger problem of work, and Seth Godin’s Linchpin is an important and delightful one. Oh, and did I mention it is filled with illustrations from Jessica Hagy and Hugh MacLeod? Great stuff.
Life Inc.
Posted June 17, 2009 10:15 a.m. by jon
In Finance and Economics - 800 CEO Read Blog
Life Inc., the recent book by writer, filmmaker, and scholar Douglas Rushkoff, examines how corporations took over America and how we can now, in a struggling economy, use that situation to revive natural growth, and take back control from the grip of corporations that contributed to creating the situation we're in. Overall, the book is an inspiring proposal to look at the downside of the current economy with optimism and enthusiasm to make positive change.
Rushkoff also recently contributed a manifesto to our site ChangeThis. The manifesto offers a brief overview to the central argument of his book.
And for an even more immediate snapshot, Life Inc.: The Movie can be viewed below:
Life Inc. The Movie from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.
