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February 11, 2008
"Welcome to the Youniverse."
That's a term from Lee Siegel's new book Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob. Yes, it's a pun, but it's not meant to be cute or funny. It reflects his opinion that the internet isolates, devalues knowledge into information, is the enemy of originality where private and public fuse, where every cultural experience is about "you." Hence, the "Youniverse."
Lee Siegel
One of the authors in our Outside the Box series, Lee's going to be here on Thursday, March 6th at 7 p.m. to talk about this provocative new book. It really is a must-read. Trust me. He will make you think. And think. And think about this issue we must.
Janet and I talked for over four hours yesterday about this book, and we chatted with Lee today for a brief interview. He was smart and thoughtful in his remarks; interesting and engaging and oh, so nice. We can hardly wait for his IRL* appearance. Click here to listen to the podcast of that interview.
We still have lots of questions to ask. Luckily, we'll all have the chance to listen to him speak, and ask questions when he's here next month.
(* In Real Life)
Posted by BarbaraT at February 11, 2008 05:02 PM
Comments
Mr. Siegel's point that the Internet needs to be criticized by "big media" is interesting. I'm not sure that's the way to go, since "big media" is ultimately corporate-controlled and spins its reporting to whatever point of view most benefits the corporate agenda...and at the same time try to pass it off as non-biased, thoroughly investigated journalism.
I think that just as Mr. Siegel states early in his book, any legit criticism of the Internet that has the potential to make a marked difference (such as this book) has to come from the ground up, not from people/corporations with a vested interested in the economic success that the Internet poses.
Great interview! It's totally inspired me to finish reading this book before the program. It's moved to the top of the pile now!
Posted by: Erica B at February 12, 2008 12:27 AM