These are people who are used to thinking of themselves as the smartest one(s) in the room. But intellectual brilliance is no substitute for a well-developed conscience. On that scale, some of them fall into the lower quartile. That’s not a permanent condition, but it is a signal that there needs to be some sort of counter-balance present when decisions of an epic scale are being made. Perhaps they should invite a few of the disregarded liberal arts majors, people who might actually read books, into the conversation.
Mostly no. This center power being ultimate importance basically ignores the large populations of the world and concentrates on wealth and power for a centered few. How is that good for the world.
Reading your review of the book was enough! It sounds utterly exhausting and, at the end of the day, do you think we actually know anything we didn't know already - that some of the richest Schools in the USA have been corrupted by huge commercial interests, and that addressing the bigger philosophical issues - the ones that ultimately matter to the survival of our humanity and our planet - comes so far down the agenda you'd have thought that really wasn't part of the purpose of a 'university'? But I do wish Theo Baker well, now his eyes are opened.
I loved how the liberal arts majors are incidental if not irrelevant in the world where Silicon Valley and Venture capital intersect. It’s a world where history, literature, the social sciences and philosophy are irrelevant, and instead, the current dominant world view emanating from Silicon Valley appears to have raised efficiencies and speed as the only aspects of life to have value. This is dangerous. Instead of placing technology and its creations into a wider context of how we see the world, it has become the end game, the only thing that is important. Leaving out, if not holding in contempt, a world that studies other modes of thought, whether it be through the prism of history, the beauty and meaning that literature can hold, the examination of how politics and societies are constructed and function through the social sciences, or finally, what is the ultimate purpose of human life as seen through philosophy, we are losing much in how human society can evolve into a better place for a larger number of people. In essence, we are in danger of losing perspective, of taking those moments through the study of the humanities to look at ourselves in ways that can perhaps help us create what we long for: a better world. If it becomes merely a more efficient one where transactional relationships are the only ones viewed to have value, then many will be left behind.
I wasn't aware that Theo was the son of Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. Silly me, wondering how a college freshman gets a book contract that ends up reviewed in the New York Times.
These are the worst people to be holding the power of our future in their hands. They only care about generating huge sums of capital as fast as possible, regardless of the laws or norms they break, and without a single thought to who or how many they harm or kill. These people make comic book villains look like toddlers or puppies.
Ruth Schimel. Excellent capture of the macho "ethos" there. Yet wonder what their motivation is. What are they chasing? How much money and notoriety is enough, if enough is even considered? I don't get a sense of any pleasure in relationships, learning and play. Or maybe power is all they want. Seems vacuous to me.
Thank you for reading so much and so quickly. I have to read it all more carefully to understand and to see if the lesson of Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide is contemplated in your work or Baker’s. If not, it really needs to be.
I do not trust these people and institutions to reorder the world. I do not trust them to make the world better. Money is far too important to them. Alas, where is the wisdom of the women? I'm so tired of the dismissal of women and the wisdom they might have. Watching my daughter with her infant son contains the wisdom to improve the world.
I wrote a similar book about the University of California at Berkeley during the 1960s when young criminologists like myself were going head to head with Gov. Reagan's over people's part and the issues of community control of the police, while city was occupied with a curfew for two weeks. Check out my Chronicles of a Radical Criminologist: Working the Margins of Law, Power, and Justice (Rutgers University Press, 2020). Here's a link: https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/chronicles-of-a-radical-criminologist/9781978814134
Egregious tangent, but this guy always comes to mind when questions about cyber frontiers comes up. One of the pioneers who walked away for years from the corporate dominated industry, and yet now actually works for Microsoft, principally because he believes in the some of the potential benefits of A.I.
The issue that I have with guys like Theo Baker is that I sense that they still want a part of it, the money, the excitement of that world. The pull of grandiose attractions. Which...was one of the characteristics of those in the Epstein circle. It has a profound draw for some, perhaps most people, if it was a possibility for them. It's a question of what values motivate someone.
Jaron Lanier is one of the few who simply has never wanted to be a part of that. Like a musician who does it for the music above all. But in a culture in which the highest popular accolade is that someone "is a rock star".
These are people who are used to thinking of themselves as the smartest one(s) in the room. But intellectual brilliance is no substitute for a well-developed conscience. On that scale, some of them fall into the lower quartile. That’s not a permanent condition, but it is a signal that there needs to be some sort of counter-balance present when decisions of an epic scale are being made. Perhaps they should invite a few of the disregarded liberal arts majors, people who might actually read books, into the conversation.
I love your observation about a well-developed conscience. That is what is so often missing now..
Mostly no. This center power being ultimate importance basically ignores the large populations of the world and concentrates on wealth and power for a centered few. How is that good for the world.
Reading your review of the book was enough! It sounds utterly exhausting and, at the end of the day, do you think we actually know anything we didn't know already - that some of the richest Schools in the USA have been corrupted by huge commercial interests, and that addressing the bigger philosophical issues - the ones that ultimately matter to the survival of our humanity and our planet - comes so far down the agenda you'd have thought that really wasn't part of the purpose of a 'university'? But I do wish Theo Baker well, now his eyes are opened.
I loved how the liberal arts majors are incidental if not irrelevant in the world where Silicon Valley and Venture capital intersect. It’s a world where history, literature, the social sciences and philosophy are irrelevant, and instead, the current dominant world view emanating from Silicon Valley appears to have raised efficiencies and speed as the only aspects of life to have value. This is dangerous. Instead of placing technology and its creations into a wider context of how we see the world, it has become the end game, the only thing that is important. Leaving out, if not holding in contempt, a world that studies other modes of thought, whether it be through the prism of history, the beauty and meaning that literature can hold, the examination of how politics and societies are constructed and function through the social sciences, or finally, what is the ultimate purpose of human life as seen through philosophy, we are losing much in how human society can evolve into a better place for a larger number of people. In essence, we are in danger of losing perspective, of taking those moments through the study of the humanities to look at ourselves in ways that can perhaps help us create what we long for: a better world. If it becomes merely a more efficient one where transactional relationships are the only ones viewed to have value, then many will be left behind.
I wasn't aware that Theo was the son of Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. Silly me, wondering how a college freshman gets a book contract that ends up reviewed in the New York Times.
there are a bunch of comments on the original NYT article along these lines. Still an interesting and well written (of course!) review.
The review is great. It's just kind of ironic to me how many "elites" don't count themselves as such.
These are the worst people to be holding the power of our future in their hands. They only care about generating huge sums of capital as fast as possible, regardless of the laws or norms they break, and without a single thought to who or how many they harm or kill. These people make comic book villains look like toddlers or puppies.
Ruth Schimel. Excellent capture of the macho "ethos" there. Yet wonder what their motivation is. What are they chasing? How much money and notoriety is enough, if enough is even considered? I don't get a sense of any pleasure in relationships, learning and play. Or maybe power is all they want. Seems vacuous to me.
Thank you for reading so much and so quickly. I have to read it all more carefully to understand and to see if the lesson of Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide is contemplated in your work or Baker’s. If not, it really needs to be.
I do not trust these people and institutions to reorder the world. I do not trust them to make the world better. Money is far too important to them. Alas, where is the wisdom of the women? I'm so tired of the dismissal of women and the wisdom they might have. Watching my daughter with her infant son contains the wisdom to improve the world.
I wrote a similar book about the University of California at Berkeley during the 1960s when young criminologists like myself were going head to head with Gov. Reagan's over people's part and the issues of community control of the police, while city was occupied with a curfew for two weeks. Check out my Chronicles of a Radical Criminologist: Working the Margins of Law, Power, and Justice (Rutgers University Press, 2020). Here's a link: https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/chronicles-of-a-radical-criminologist/9781978814134
Egregious tangent, but this guy always comes to mind when questions about cyber frontiers comes up. One of the pioneers who walked away for years from the corporate dominated industry, and yet now actually works for Microsoft, principally because he believes in the some of the potential benefits of A.I.
The issue that I have with guys like Theo Baker is that I sense that they still want a part of it, the money, the excitement of that world. The pull of grandiose attractions. Which...was one of the characteristics of those in the Epstein circle. It has a profound draw for some, perhaps most people, if it was a possibility for them. It's a question of what values motivate someone.
Jaron Lanier is one of the few who simply has never wanted to be a part of that. Like a musician who does it for the music above all. But in a culture in which the highest popular accolade is that someone "is a rock star".
https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-04-24/jaron-lanier-cooper-lecture
https://www.creativeprocess.info/books-writers/jaron-lanier-mia-funk-highlights-x8tpj
(Gotta admit though...it makes for a good pop song.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDgBy2mHbc&t=6s