JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Dan Woren’s clear, straightforward narration warms what is otherwise a dry academic series of discussions that consider the impact of the Internet on humans’ ability to think and reason. Are people turning into passive entities who know little and care less beyond the instantaneous search for facts? Is our ability to reason and truly understand being negatively impacted? What is the difference between intelligent discussion of differing opinions and blatant online marketing based upon our digitally established online profile? While Woren assumes the persona of an old media anchorman, his enlivening style does provide some humanity that the words themselves lack. Precise enunciation and diction aid this philosophical examination of issues that plague our digital lives today. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Wall Street Journal - Alan Jacobs
"In The Internet of Us, Michael P. Lynch begins by pointing out, rightly enough, that in the age of the Internet we seem simultaneously to know more and know less. This leads him, philosopher that he is, to ask some questions about what it means to say that we know something…Mr. Lynch’s basic argument is that if we understand better the conditions under which knowledge is produced and disseminated—conditions he explores clearly and cogently—then we will become more ‘responsible’ knowers."
David Weinberger
"[Lynch] pursues his argument with commendable seriousness, clarity, and attunement to historical context….He has written an intelligent book that struggles honestly with important questions: Is the net turning us into passive knowers? Is it degrading our ability to reason? What can we do about this?"
Hartford Courant - Robert M. Thorson
"To object to the internet would be like objecting to the atmosphere. But just as the atmosphere can be too warm, too toxic or can send violent storms our way, so, too, can the infosphere create many difficulties, not the least of which is the conflict between privacy and security. Luckily, there’s a new book out there by philosopher Michael P. Lynch. The Internet of Us shares my appreciation for what is less a new technology than a new way of knowing."
Paul Roberts
"Combing the sharp insights of a leading philosopher with the lucid, accessible style of a natural historian, Lynch shows us how, as ‘knowledge’ has become a manufactured—and controlled—commodity, genuine understanding and creativity are becoming dangerously scarce. Essential reading for educators, parents, policymakers and, one hopes, those pulling the levers in the knowledge economy."
Wall Street Journal
"Lynch’s basic argument is that if we understand better the conditions under which knowledge is produced and disseminated—conditions he explores clearly and cogently—then we will become more ‘responsible' knowers."
Owen Flanagan
"Michael P. Lynch is a deep thinker and a wise soul. In his beautifully written The Internet of Us, he goes to the heart of a high-stakes existential drama in which nothing less than the fates of knowledge, education, democracy and what it means to be human are at stake."
Electric Review
"In this age of ‘surf Google now,’ everyone is an expert by virtue of the instant ability to click for answers…Lynch’s treatise shows us that constantly forsaking the effort to dig and analyze in favor of quick information is a recipe for disaster that too often results in impulsive half-formed decisions…[T]his is a must read book."
The New Yorker - Jill Lepore
"[A] fascinating new book…Lynch has been writing about this topic for a long time, and passionately."
Booklist
"A bracing challenge to Internet enthusiasts."
Library Journal
10/15/2015
So much information comes at us these days, especially via the Internet, that we can barely absorb it all, much less work through it to some kind of understanding. That's bad news, argues rising-star philosopher Lynch; knowledge is more than just acquiring facts.
JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Dan Woren’s clear, straightforward narration warms what is otherwise a dry academic series of discussions that consider the impact of the Internet on humans’ ability to think and reason. Are people turning into passive entities who know little and care less beyond the instantaneous search for facts? Is our ability to reason and truly understand being negatively impacted? What is the difference between intelligent discussion of differing opinions and blatant online marketing based upon our digitally established online profile? While Woren assumes the persona of an old media anchorman, his enlivening style does provide some humanity that the words themselves lack. Precise enunciation and diction aid this philosophical examination of issues that plague our digital lives today. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-12-09
How the Internet and "Google-knowing" can aggravate our tendency to be unreasonable. Lynch (Philosophy, Director of the Humanities Institute/Univ. of Connecticut; In Praise of Reason: Why Rationality Matters For Democracy, 2012, etc.) takes issue with the widely accepted notion that the Internet is a net benefit because it makes more information available to more people more quickly and easily. He is concerned with the consequences of a growing confusion between our receptivity to information and informed understanding as well as the advantages taken by data companies based on surveillance and systematic invasions of privacy. Lynch fears the growing impact of rumors and false information through what he calls "information cascades." Social media and the Internet in general, he writes, "are particularly susceptible" to a phenomenon comparable to "mob mentality." After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a photograph of a man and wounded woman were circulated, along with the story that the man had been about to propose marriage. However, the story was made up. Lynch argues that the trust people give to their sources of information can be both misplaced and abused. The Internet gives us more to disagree about and more sources to choose from. Given that many people limit whom they talk to and trust, those they agree with and think are authorities, the author is concerned that the Internet is increasing group polarization and the emergence of what he calls "isolated tribes." For him, reasonableness can go by the wayside when people begin to discuss the different principles on which their views are based. However, the Internet did not cause people to act this way. Lynch effectively presents the case for rationality against factional loyalties and insists that there should be vigorous promotion of scientific methods and thinking in public discourse. This activity would encourage the positive habits of evaluating authority and sources. An excellent, much-needed contribution to the constant battle to sort truth from falsity.
