On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 08:27:00AM -0800, Razer wrote: ...
I’ve come to the view this as part of the project of the book itself: to leave us unsettled by how its narrator, like all of us, remains somewhat in the Valley’s mindset, if not its pocket. This entanglement is a feature of the system that works, as she notes, precisely as designed. In the end, for all the generosity she extends to those around her, Wiener is unsparing with herself: “Certain unflattering truths: I had felt unassailable behind the walls of power. Society was shifting, and I felt safer inside the empire, inside the machine. It was preferable to be on the side that did the watching than the side being watched.” Wiener has written an indispensable chronicle of this era in tech, the consequences of which we will all reckon with as the next decade unfolds. Still, given the Valley’s unmatched ability to avoid any sense of guilt as the world around it burns, there is no doubt in my mind that while Uncanny Valley will be read widely and voraciously throughout the empire, Wiener’s readers—techno-skeptics and technologists alike—will be able to recognize themselves without feeling indicted.
But surely someone, somewhere, eventually, will need to feel indicted. At some point, we’re going to need the sharp end of the knife." https://thebaffler.com/latest/certain-unflattering-truths-schaffer
Great book review! Thanks to teh resident neo-Marxist for posting :) If only there were a double edged edify/diss ...