Further Reading
This page provides additional reading to stay engaged as the Digital Revolution rages on. I intend to revise this page as needed based on feedback on the book, relevant news in fields like AI, and the ongoing growth of my own understanding. May these resources spark further inquiry and action in the face of rapid technological developments.
Institute of Media Research
In Chapter Six: Vast Experiments, I mention the nonprofit that I started in 2002 and ran for six years—the Institute of Media Research. We performed a variety of experiments related to the short- and long-term effects of exposure to various forms of digital media on the brain and behavior.
One particularly relevant experiment, which I detail in the book, asked: “Will watching a TV monitor under specific conditions hypnotize the viewer?” Brain waves of twelve subjects were individually monitored while the subjects (1) were in a “reverie” state (staring at a blank wall), (2) watched a neutral, silent (peaceful nature scene) video, and (3) were placed in an open-eyed hypnotic state.
Beta waves in the brain are a higher frequency associated with waking cognition, alertness, and focus; delta waves are a lower frequency that occurs during restorative rest. With this in mind, I will describe these data further:
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Brain wave patterns of eight of the twelve subjects while under hypnosis and while viewing the neutral video are commensurate, and verify the hypothesis that cathode ray tube images have the capacity to hypnotize.
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“High hypnotizables” (those prone to self-hypnosis in a reverie or relaxed, nondistracted state) may be more susceptible to being hypnotized by television or desktop computer monitors than are “low hypnotizables.””
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Left-handers may be hypnotized more easily than right-handers.
Activists Creating a Counter-Revolution
In Chapter Six: Vast Experiments, I mention the work of musician Sasha Milan, who has written songs like “Digital Age.”
Open the screen
Where have I been the last hour
My body aches
I left myself, where did I go
Living in the digital age
Living in the digital age
I am not an image of me
I’m a living, sensing, feeling
Heart beating, breathing being
I am not my Facebook page
I am not my status update
Living in the digital age
Living in the digital age
See here for more of her work here. Sasha is just one of many Gen-Z and millennial artists pushing back against the harms of the Digital Revolution.
Over a third of the States in the US have adopted laws limiting the use of smart phones add other devices during school hours. Luddite Clubs have emerged on college campuses across the US. One example is Oberlin College in Ohio, whose President encouraged the use of AI against student wishes which led the students to send her a letter expressing their objections. Smartphone -free spaces are on the rise, suggesting a shift in cultural norms. Other activist groups pushing against Big Tech and over-computerization of our lives include the Strother School of Radical Attention, Month Offline, and Appstinence—all having ways to get involved which I strongly encourage you to do, or create your own path, for you have nothing to lose but your self and your humanity.
The Myth of AI
I argue in the book that the term Artificial Intelligence is an oxymoron. It is as Timnit Gebru calls it, “AI is the result of stochastic parroting.” AI does not possess any intelligence in the sense of human intelligence. AI is the result of highly-advanced mathematical manipulation using techniques that go back several centuries. AI can produce entities that mimic or resemble human intelligence but they are only mimicking and are not in fact an expression of intelligence.
For further clarification of my claim that Artificial Intelligence is an oxymoron, the following two books that I recommend by gifted and well-informed thinkers will verify my claim as to its status as mere parroting rather than the product of actual thinking.
Recommended Literatures
These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means
by Christopher Summerfield
