The End of Reality

Starred review from June 5, 2023
In this vigorous polemic, University of Southern California professor of communication and digital media Taplin (Move Fast and Break Things) accuses Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg of capitalizing on the low quality of life among America’s poor and working classes by selling them a carefully calculated fantasy. Among other pipe dreams, these “Technocrats” promised that life in the metaverse would be more fulfilling and that an economy based in cryptocurrency would be more equitable. The reality, according to Taplin, is that tech products like crypto and social media only “preserv the status quo” in place since the 1980s—namely chaotic, unregulated free-market liberalism—under which the tech billionaires’ wealth and power has grown. Moreover, Taplin writes, “the rise of social networks correlates with the metastasis of social distrust political polarization” that further entrenches the dominance of these technocrats. Taplin accuses political leaders of being either slow or unwilling to take what he sees as the obvious first steps forward, including breaking up Meta and putting the Securities and Exchange Commission in charge of cryptocurrency. Persuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home.

July 1, 2023

Film producer and scholar Taplin is far from a technophobe; he created the Internet's first video-on-demand service and led the Annenberg Innovation Lab at USC. But he is concerned about certain current technological tendencies that he views as unhealthy. He says that concepts such as the metaverse, human colonization of Mars, cryptocurrency, and transhumanism are moral, political, and economic existential threats. This wide-ranging book focuses on four influential technology billionaires: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen. The author argues that the four have adopted a mixture of libertarianism and "fascism," a term he uses expansively to seemingly include any right-wing authoritarianism, not just the ethno-nationalist totalitarianism that the word historically signifies. The book indicates the author's view that these four people encourage hyper-partisanship because it makes changes in the status quo--specifically, increased regulation of their businesses--less likely. The book recommends a reordering of the economy that is more ecologically oriented and decentralized. VERDICT A book that both critiques the business models of specific billionaires and calls for a regenerative economy. Best for readers wary of the metaverse.--Shmuel Ben-Gad

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