A heartfelt plea for greater vigilance in a world increasingly controlled by advanced digital technology.
The author of Rogue Economics warns us that “high-tech-savvy entrepreneurs” are monopolizing the economy, exacerbating inequality, weakening the state, and placing “the common good in jeopardy.”
Italian journalist Napoleoni believes that we live in a “new paradigm” of accelerating change in which the present and future overlap. In this “Present Future,” she writes, “humanity and politics seem unaware of the empowering of technology and refuse to embrace the epochal change that will allow us to leap into a better future.” The villains are cyberpunks whose quest for individual freedom and mistrust of government have led to such problematic technologies as cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and artificial intelligence. Moreover, the digitalization of money and its unrestrained printing are undermining both Wall Street and the state as a whole. Tech titans such as Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are particularly dangerous. Napoleoni’s gallery of malefactors also includes the Space Barons—e.g., Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson—who are using satellites and reusable launch vehicles to commercialize low Earth orbit. The Space Barons also tout the colonization of space, a project the author considers futile and a retreat from the challenge of climate change. She calls for national and international governmental bodies to rein in digitalization, but she also celebrates blockchain technology for its support of individual privacy, reliance on trust, and enabling of collective decision-making. Blockchain technology is revolutionary and “powerful enough to potentially redesign everything, including human relationships.” Napoleoni vacillates between a critical assessment of computerized technologies and enthusiastic embrace, while also being ambivalent about state regulation. Despite internal inconsistencies, her argument is well documented and addresses the real threat that the economy’s financialization poses to democratic institutions and personal freedom. We are, she claims, “sleepwalking towards dystopia.”
A heartfelt plea for greater vigilance in a world increasingly controlled by advanced digital technology.Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781644213292
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Seven Stories
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.
Two bestselling authors engage in an enlightening back-and-forth about Jewishness and antisemitism.
Acho, author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, and Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, discuss many of the searing issues for Jews today, delving into whether Jewishness is a religion, culture, ethnicity, or community—or all of the above. As Tishby points out, unlike in Christianity, one can be comfortably atheist and still be considered a Jew. She defines Judaism as a “big tent” religion with four main elements: religion, peoplehood, nationhood, and the idea of tikkun olam (“repairing the world through our actions”). She addresses candidly the hurtful stereotypes about Jews (that they are rich and powerful) that Acho grew up with in Dallas and how Jews internalize these antisemitic judgments. Moreover, Tishby notes, “it is literally impossible to be Jewish and not have any connection with Israel, and I’m not talking about borders or a dot on the map. Judaism…is an indigenous religion.” Acho wonders if one can legitimately criticize “Jewish people and their ideologies” without being antisemitic, and Tishby offers ways to check whether one’s criticism of Jews or Zionism is antisemitic or factually straightforward. The authors also touch on the deteriorating relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, despite their historically close alliance during the civil rights era. “As long as Jewish people get to benefit from appearing white while Black people have to suffer for being Black, there will always be resentment,” notes Acho. “Because the same thing that grants you all access—your skin color—is what grants us pain and punishment in perpetuity.” Finally, the authors underscore the importance of being mutual allies, and they conclude with helpful indexes on vernacular terms and customs.
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781668057858
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
