21. The internet is not what you think it is // JUSTIN E. H. SMITH

Forest of Thought

In what ways might the roots of the internet actually stretch back much further than we think? Does the internet enhance or distort our humanness? How is our deepening entanglement with algorithms shaping how we think and what we pay attention to?

Justin E. H. Smith is a professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the Université Paris Cité, and is a writer of both non-fiction, fiction and poetry. His latest book is The Internet is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning, in which he traces the deep history of the internet and asks where these technologies may be taking us next. His previous books include Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason and Divine Machines: Leibniz and the Sciences of Life. He posts regularly on Substack at Justin E. H. Smith’s Hinternet.

LINKS:

• Justin’s book The Internet is Not What You Think It Is: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212326/the-internet-is-not-what-you-think-it-is
• Justin’s Substack: https://justinehsmith.substack.com
• Justin’s book on Gottfried Leibniz: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691141787/divine-machines
• David Abram on technology and animism: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/magic-and-the-machine/
• James William’s Stand out of our light (Ted Talk based on book of same name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaIO2UIvJ4g
• Yves Citton on the Ecology of attention: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Ecology+of+Attention-p-9781509503735

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