World Without Mind arrived just as Facebook, that universal enabler of narcissism, came under scrutiny for its role in undermining American democracy. Onetime Slate writer Franklin Foer authored his book after the election of Donald Trump (“we need more committed protectors of truth than the feckless gatekeepers at Facebook and Google”) but before the full revelations of Russian meddling. His focus isn’t the Kremlin but Silicon Valley, where he charges GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) with diminishing the potential for individualism, collapsing privacy and disrespecting authorship. They seek to monopolize not only commerce but consciousness. “They hope to automate the choices, both large and small, that we make as we float through the day.” Even the old-school media gatekeepers have been corrupted by the need for more clicks and competition; wacko ravings are aggregated alongside sober analysis as if there is no difference. The litany of digital problems spelled out in World Without Mind is alarming.
