values of, 44
Republic, The (Plato), 54, 83
Republican Party, 61–62
research sharing, 135–36
responsibility, individual vs. group, 117–19
Rifkin, Jeremy, 7–8, 92, 140–41, 145, 151, 180
ring of invisibility, 54
robots:
cyborg, 5–6, 191–92
as socialbots, 81–82
Rogers, Mike, 96
Romney, Mitt, 200
Rorty, Richard, 62
Rove, Karl, 50
Rudder, Christian, 157–60
Russell, Bertrand, ix, xvii–xviii, 186
Ryle, Gilbert, 168
St. Petersburg Times, 46
same-sex marriage, 72
changing attitudes toward, 53–54
Sanger, Larry, 133
Sapere aude (dare to know), 59
Scalia, Antonin, 93
Scheinfeldt, Tom, 162
Schich, Maximilian, 161–62
science:
competitions in, 137
as digitally dependent, 7, 9
religion vs., 47–49
in skeptical argument, 59–60
value judgment and, 57, 62
Science, 161
science fiction, 75
scientific method, in reasoning, 59–62
scientific theory, in big data analysis, 156–63
secondary qualities, defined, 68, 70, 74
Second Life (SIM game), 20
security cameras, 91, 97
self, narrative construction of, 73–74
self-awareness:
in machines, 116
in SIMS, 193
self-conception, 74
self-reliance:
in attainment of knowledge, 114–15
dependence on experts in, 35–36
self-representation, 73–74
sensors, tracking by, 7–8
sensory perception, 26–28, 68, 114, 131, 194–95
Shannon, Claude, 12
Silver, Nate, 123
Simons, Daniel, 30
SIMs, 193
defined, 19–20
hypothetical four-choice scenario of, 75–77, 198
simulations, 19–20
singularity, defined, 116
skepticism:
of accepted truths, 34
philosophical, 18–20, 58–59, 196
of reasonableness, 47–48, 58–60
skills, acquisition of, see motor skills
slaves, 146
smart devices, as Internet of Things, 7–8
smartphones, xvii, 7, 11, 30, 77, 161
in education, 148
fact-checking on, 56
integrated into human brain, 3–4
tracking by, 90, 92
see also iPhone
Snowden, Edward, 95, 99
socialbots, 81–82, 85
social constructs, transitioning of, 71–73
social media, xvii, 60, 196
data collection on, 158
fragmentation of, 43
Glauconian reasoning in, 55
in government manipulation, 81
misinformation in, 31–32
propaganda on, 82–83
truth, lies and, 65–86
sock puppet (manufactured online identity), 80–81, 85
Socrates, 13, 16–17, 47, 166–67, 171
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 185
Sosa, Ernest, 131
spandrels, 194
Sperber, Dan, 54
Stanley, Jason, 66, 169
star ranking system, 119
Strawson, Peter, 105–6
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The (Kuhn), 159
student loans and debt, 149–50
subjectivity, 84
Sunstein, Cass, 43, 45, 100
Supreme Court, Calif., 147
Supreme Court, U.S., 93, 122–23
Surowiecki, James, 120
Syria, 83
“system 1” cognitive processing, 29
“system 2” cognitive processing, 39
tablets, xvii, 9
taboos, 52, 53
targeted advertising, 9, 90, 91, 105
technê, 170
technology:
changes in, 73
debate over advances of, xvii
and ethical values, 89–90
and understanding, 179–84
unthinking commitment to, 11–12
telepathy:
communication by, 192
thought experiment on, 96–97, 104
teleportation, Internet as, xvi
television, 167–68
terrorism, as justification for abuses of privacy, 92, 100
testimony:
of experts, 35, 120
knowledge through, 24–25, 114–16
misplaced trust in, 33
reliability of, 123–25, 181
restriction on legal, 147
Texas, Republican Party platform in, 61–62
“things in themselves,” 85
“Third Industrial Revolution,” 8
This American Life, 78
Threadless, 136–37
Tibet, Chinese relations with, 81
time travel, written word as, xv–xvi
“tokens,” 69
topology, 112–13
Torah, 48
tracking, see data mining
transparency, 85–86
of knowledge, 90, 109, 137–38
and power, 107–9
trends, 157
tribes, 43–46
TripAdvisor, 116
trust:
basis for, 14, 36–38, 179
credibility in, 40, 46, 50, 119–20, 126, 131
epistemic, 195
in Google-knowing, 24–25
in receptive knowledge, 28, 30, 37, 131
in testimony, 33
trust-tags, 40
truth:
attitudes toward, 75–77
bias and, 43–50, 84–86
control and distortion of, 65–67
devaluing of, 58, 74, 111, 148
discerning and determining, 17–19, 67–74, 83–86, 90, 130
falsifying facts in the name of, 78–83
and freedom, 62
Internet in personal search for, 65–66
obscured, 75–76
skeptical challenges to accepted, 34
see also objectivity, objective truth
T-shirt design, 137
Tube map, 112–13
Turing, Alan, 81–82
Turkers, 136, 141
Twitter, tweeting, xvii, 8, 24, 31–32, 43, 81–82
in political activism, 65–66
tracking by, 160–61
understanding:
creativity in reaching, 174–77, 181, 183
in digital form of life, 155–78
through experience, 16, 173–74
and explaining, 165–67, 182
knowledge based on, 15–17
knowledge vs. other forms of knowledge, 6, 16–17, 90, 154, 164–65, 181
moment of sudden insight in, 175, 176–77
as personally cognitive, 176–77, 181–82, 184
and procedural knowledge, 167–74
process of, 163–67, 174–77
reciprocal relationship between motor skills and, 167–74
as reflexive, 183–84
technology and, 179–84
universal and particular in, 171
United Nations, 143
universities, 148–54
value judgment, 51–55, 57
verification, 83
“veritic luck,” 203
video map of cultural history, 161–62
Vienna Circle, 128–29
Virginia, University of, 151
von Neumann, John, 116
voting patterns, 121, 123
“wag the dog” illusion, 52
Warren, Samuel, 89–90, 94, 101
Washington Post, 95, 99
&n
bsp; Web 1.0, 7
Web 2.0, 74, 134–36, 143, 144, 148, 167, 174
defined, xvii, 7
Web 3.0 (“smart Web”), 7, 155
Websites, 69
Weibo, 65
Weinberger, David, 84–85, 111, 119, 125–28, 131
Westen, Drew, 51
“What is Justified Belief” (Goldman), 194
Wieseltier, Leon, 11
WikiLeaks, 137–38
Wikipedia, 24, 31, 133, 135
in fact-checking, 56, 130
as joint enterprise, 119
wikis, defined, 129
Wired, 136, 156
wiretapping, 101, 109
wisdom, 16–17
knowledge vs., xvii, 4
Wisdom of Crowds, The (Surowiecki), 120
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 10
World Wide Web:
as a construction, 69, 70, 129
privacy policies on, 105
written word:
digital knowledge compared to, xv–xvi, 125–26, 127–28
print revolution in, 134
as static, 85
X-Men, 96
YouTube, 8, 32, 128
zero marginal cost economy, 140
Zöllner, Johann Friedrich, 58–59
Also by Michael Patrick Lynch
In Praise of Reason: Why Rationality Matters for Democracy
Truth as One and Many
True to Life: Why Truth Matters
Truth in Context: An Essay on Pluralism and Objectivity
About the Author
Michael Patrick Lynch is a professor of philosophy and the director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Connecticut. He is the author or editor of more than seven books, including the New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice True to Life, as well as Truth as One and Many. The recipient of the Medal for Research Excellence from the University of Connecticut’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Lynch has held grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Bogliasco Foundation among others. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times’ The Stone series. An avid sailor, he lives in rural Connecticut.
Copyright © 2016 by Michael Patrick Lynch
All rights reserved
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Lynch, Michael P. (Michael Patrick), 1966– author.
Title: The Internet of us : knowing more and understanding less in the age of big data / Michael Patrick Lynch.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Liveright Publishing
Corporation, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015051171 | ISBN 9780871406613 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Knowledge, Theory of. | Information technology. | Internet.
Classification: LCC BD161 .L88 2016 | DDC 001—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015051171
ISBN 978-1-63149-186-3 (e-book)
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The Internet of Us Page 21
