Archive for September 7th, 2008

If you don’t already read it, the Technology Liberation Front is among the best blogs on technology policy. While I may not agree with each individual author on this group blog, they are all deep thinkers on the intersection of technology and policy. Today, Adam Thierer wrote a post I had been rolling around in my head for a couple weeks: a survey of the recent books on the Internet and its effects.

As the Internet continues through its second decade of popularity, a number of important books have been published examining its nature, proper role and effects upon society. As Adam notes, most of these books fall neatly within two categories: Internet optimists and Internet pessimists. Among the former are Chris Anderson, Yochai Benkler and Clay Shirky. These authors often debate the pessimists like Nick Carr, Andrew Keen and Lee Siegal. Unfortunately, the debate often devolves into a black-and-white conflict between Luddites and techno-utopianists. Thankfully, Adam adds some necessary nuance to the debate saying, “each model or mode of production has its place and purpose and they will continue to co-exist going forward, albeit in serious tension at times.” The lower transaction costs made possible by the Internet mean that different modes of production are made possible, but it would be silly to believe they will be triumphant in all regards.

Personally, I’m slightly embarrassed that I’ve not read many of the pessimists, but from the reviews, it seems they are not worth the time - although I heartily recommend Carr and his blog. Beyond the books summarized in the TLF post, there are other works which seem to fall somewhere between the categories of techno optimism and pessimism. For example, I think Cass Sunstein’s “Infotopia” (reviewed here) lays out both benefits and critiques in a reasoned manner. Jonathan Zittrain’s new book, “The Future of the Internet” (reviewed here), is not optimistic about the future, but not because he doesn’t support the technological optimists - he’s pessimistic because the pessimists who want more control and order may be winning. In the coming months, Lessig will publish a new book called Remix where, I’m sure, he’ll add to the optimists. And finally, there is a whole host of others which should be part of the list including David Weinberger’s “Everything is Misscelaneous,” Daniel Solove’s “The Future of Reputation” and John Palfrey’s new “Born Digital.”

What’s on your shelf of technology policy books?