Nick Harkaway
Coming into this book, author Nick Harkaway had a
long way to go to win me over. Its premise, as communicated on the book jacket
and first section, creates the impression that it is yet another alarmist rag
about how digital culture is ruining some aspect of the human experience.
Luckily, I resisted my urge to set the book down and ask my editor for one
which I would not so readily spew vitriol at. Instead, I discovered a pensive
little gem which offers a unique and insightful perspective on the friction
accompanying the radical shift to digital culture. In doing so, it explores
what these conflicts reveal about what we hold dear, what motivates us, and, as
the title says, what makes us human.
Harkaway's approach to the issue
embodies, in my mind, the best kind of philosophy: instead of pointing at one
thing (in this case, the Internet) as the harbinger of our doom, he digs deeper
to examine why we react in such an extreme fashion to these societal shifts in
the first place. Is it the breakneck pace of contemporary day-to-day life? The
overflow of stimuli that bombard us moment-to-moment? The threatening of our privacy
as our personal membranes become increasingly permeable and security issues
become more difficult to navigate? The
Blind Giant's response is that, while useful, each of these answers only
addresses the presenting symptoms of a deeper disorder. Using them instead as clues
to the root of the problem, Harkaway investigates prominent issues such as
media piracy, privacy, and information overload with a level of nuance and
bipartisanship that few writers on new media have delivered. An active citizen
of the Internet (an avid World of Warcraft player and prolific blogger with a
significant web presence), Harkaway skilfully switches between expressing wide-eyed
wonderment at the possibilities offered to us by the existence of the Internet and
warning readers about the chilling abuses it has the potential to
facilitate.
What I found most impressive about The Blind Giant was how it connected
proximal issues like the ones noted above with the more ultimate themes of human
experience. Harkaway suggests that we feel overwhelmed because the reach of the
outside world through our informational streams represents a violation of the
concept of hearth and home which we have held static for so long. He believes
that media creators are finding it so difficult to curtail piracy and falling
profits because they are struggling to adapt to a business model where the
consumer has vastly more control over acquisition and consumption of goods—where
the decision to buy a product or support a company is based more on a model of
gift-giving and good will, and a more direct, intimate relationship between
consumer and creator.
This is the kind of eye-opening, lateral
thinking brought forth in this book, bolstered by fastidious research inspired
by a variety of disciplines, from philosophy to economics, social psychology,
and engineering. Take care in picking up The Blind Giant, for you may find yourself with a library's worth
of additional reading from all of the interesting references cited. For me, it
has accomplished the impressive feat of leaving me both more informed about the
world we live in, and optimistic
that we as humans can make the most of it. That alone makes it worth a
recommendation.
- Vincent Smith
Vincent
Smith is a taoist, aspiring writer, and dyed-in-the-wool psychology
geek at the University of Guelph. You can find his writing on video
games, comics, movies, and all things geek over at The Rogue's Gallery.
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