Perrot Memorial Library and the Greenwich Pen Women present a Book Discussion on WORLD WITHOUT MIND: THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT OF BIG TECH, by Franklin Foer
Facilitated by Sarah Darer Littman, President of Greenwich Pen Women
Monday, March 25th, 2019 at 7 PM
Tracing the intellectual history of computer science, Franklin Foer puts the DNA of the very idea of “tech” under the microscope. Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, he argues, are breaking laws intended to protect intellectual property and privacy. He writes, “As these companies have expanded, marketing themselves as champions of individuality and pluralism, their algorithms have pressed us into conformity and laid waste to privacy. They have produced an unstable and narrow culture of misinformation, and put us on a path to a world without private contemplation, autonomous thought, or solitary introspection–a world without mind.”
In light of the revelations of interference in the 2016 election through social media, Foer’s timely book provides a stepping stone to discuss our willingness to sacrifice privacy for convenience, and if it’s time to reexamine the notion that technology will provide the solution.
Copies of the book are available for checkout from the Adult Circulation Desk. Please note that seating for this event is limited!
