Overview

Did you get any say in whether or not A.I. will radically transform your world? (Or autonomous weapons, or bioengineering, or many other radical new technologies?) At this very moment, a tiny number of Silicon Valley leaders are making risky decisions that will have a huge impact on the rest of the eight billion people on this planet. They don't mean to cause harm, but their new creations often bring dire unintended consequences: destructive psychological, social, economic, and political impacts. We call these ""side effects,"" but they're often more powerful than the intended ones. Too many books about technology end with a vague plea that we really ought to do something about these problems. The Frankenstein Fix gets to the deep roots of what tends to cause them-and it provides a broad array of actual solutions. The book offers insights from interviews with many experts, including tech critic Douglas Rushkoff, science historian Stephen Johnson, and psychologist Katy Cook. It also provides a cornucopia of unique features, from an intriguing account of how people have resisted dangerous inventions throughout history, to surprising takes on space colonization and why the Amish reject technologies, to a toolbox of powerful techniques that could enable us to predict-and avoid-future troubles.

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Reviews

""I really like The Frankenstein Fix for the way it provides clear, actionable alternatives to tech doom.""-Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus ""An outstanding and impressive book. In this sweeping but concise history of the digital age, I learned a hundred things that I didn't understand or appreciate that all happened when I thought I was paying attention.""-Tom Zoellner, Ph.D., winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award ""This book really gets at the roots of why the culture and mentality of too many of today's tech leaders can lead to harmful consequences for all of us.""-Katy Cook, psychologist and author of The Psychology of Silicon Valley ""The Frankenstein Fix is more than a dire warning; it's also a blueprint for action. As Technology takes us beyond science into a realm of ballooning egos and ever-higher profits, a future without restraints, ethics, or remorse, it falls on us to supply those vital qualities. Gabriel Cohen shows us how.""-Wayne Grady, author of Technology ""The Frankenstein Fix is a sharp and impassioned plea for a better tech industry and a better world. Recommended reading for anyone who believes we deserve a better future than the one currently being peddled by Silicon Valley.""-Wendy Liu, author of Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism ""Fascinating. Grounded in history and an unflinching analysis that's unafraid to point fingers, Cohen's book engages the most critical questions of our age."" -Jessica DuLong, CNN columnist and author of Saved at The Seawall: Stories from The September 11 Boat Lift ""Gabriel Cohen, a master of spinning mysteries, now unravels his biggest one: why the negative unintended consequences of new tech are often greater than the positive intended ones. He tracks down the clues, interrogates the subject, and pronounces his verdict. An absorbing, real-world whodunnit-and howwecandoit differently.""-Andrew Boyd, author of I Want A Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor

Author Information

Gabriel Cohen is a professor of journalism, critical thinking, and creative writing at Pratt Institute in New York City. He is the author of six previous books, and has written articles and essays for The New York Times and many other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, and his website is GabrielCohenBooks.com.

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