Review ~ Kara Swisher's The Burn Book: A Tech Love Story
The resolution in Kara Swisher’s Burn Book is what sunk in where the setup and conflict were more of a rekindling in much more depth on my thoughts on the lead up to where we are with the overly centralized state of tech we see today. But as with any good story, the resolution is the payoff for what has come before it. And to me the payoff was found at the very end of the book where Kara references Spalding Gray’s interviews with audience members where he offers the following to justify the reason for the interviews “Everyone is interesting with the right question”.
How true this is and lies at the core of what went wrong with the giddy “build a better world” proclamations from a hodgepodge of clearly intelligent tech elite responsible for the flow of information we create, consume, and share outside the earshot of the source. A new digital reality “Scraping our Intent” as she most poetically and effectively offered, sums up the problem as the tech was never pointed at the questions we have, but the answers they want us to have. Answers, algorithmically tuned to generate the most engagement to maximize profits serving stockholders interests over that of the stakeholders.
And I don’t use the word “they” lightly here either as a riff on the elusive illuminati but to a collection of, as Kara says, “a small set of out of touch billionaires” who with great power hold great responsibility to quote Spiderman’s uncle. I guess this begs the question, do they hold any responsibility for what they have built? Is a car manufacturer liable for defects? A gun manufacturer? A home builder? Are these leaders not manufacturing perspective and influence over what we consume whether it is the consumption of information, services or products?
Why is it that “they” are allowed to harness the behaviors I consume and share behind the comfort of my own screen? Who invited them in? Yeah, yeah, I know. I signed a 40 page term of agreement. Obfuscation is certainly more than a few arrows in the quiver in this war over our interests.
I like how Kara ended up with the fact she will become optimistic if a diverse group of voices become part of central casting for this ever-evolving story. I personally believe Generative AI might possibly be a ray of hope toward this shift but time will tell. I feel the same way about this as I did during the birth of the web which I am old enough to have witnessed as an adult. I was let down then, but I hope to not be let down this time around. All I know is “We” need to be the ones to build the next iteration of applications off the back of AI not “They”. Let the tech bros, K Street, and Wall Street fund and manage it, but give the reins to everyday people from all walks of life to build this next round of relevance. We can handle it.
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