I am what I read

Two interesting posts…

In The Medium is the Moral, Nicholas Carr debates the extent to which we surrender our morality to technology.

In Is Google Making the Web Stupid? Seth Godin reflects on the unintended consequences of our reliance on a search algorithm that must be purposed to driving revenue.

Both remind me of a theme in Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget, that our perspective on the world is imperceptibly shaped and limited by the tools we use to perceive it: if your spectacles are the wrong prescription, you don’t see things far away; if your search engine tailors results to your tastes, you don’t see what you don’t know; and, if your smartphone makes decisions for you, are you morally accountable or independent?

And Carr’s point about us being driven to connect and share, reminds me of Dave Eggers haunting novel, The Circle

Two longish articles, and two books, all worth a ponder.