Author(s): Justin E. H. Smith

Non-Fiction | Mel M's Book Talkers

An original deep history of the internet that tells the story of the centuries-old utopian dreams behind it — and explains why they have died today.Many think of the internet as an unprecedented and overwhelmingly positive achievement of modern human technology. But is it? In The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is, Justin Smith offers an original deep history of the internet, from the ancient to the modern world — uncovering its surprising origins in nature and centuries-old dreams of radically improving human life by outsourcing thinking to machines and communicating across vast distances. Yet, despite the internet’s continuing potential, Smith argues, the utopian hopes behind it have finally died today, killed by the harsh realities of social media, the global information economy, and the attention-destroying nature of networked technology.Ranging over centuries of the history and philosophy of science and technology, Smith shows how the 'internet' has been with us much longer than we usually think. He draws fascinating connections between internet user experience, artificial intelligence, the invention of the printing press, communication between trees, and the origins of computing in the machine-driven looms of the silk industry. At the same time, he reveals how the internet’s organic structure and development root it in the natural world in unexpected ways that challenge efforts to draw an easy line between technology and nature.Combining the sweep of intellectual history with the incisiveness of philosophy, The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is cuts through our daily digital lives to give a clear-sighted picture of what the internet is, where it came from, and where it might be taking us in the coming decades.

CONSTANT READER STAFF REVIEW: MEL M

The internet may seem like a recent phenomenon, but for centuries humankind has imagined ways to connect great distances. 

Smith takes us on a fascinating tour of ideas from ancient cultures to 15th century inventors to Mark Zuckerberg et al, questioning our use of the different metaphors we use for it: the internet as a web, as a window, as a loom; and argues strongly for us to use as accurate a language as possible so as to better understand our current digital landscape.

A remarkable chapter toward the end of the book argues for Wikipedia’s great merit (in comparison to more befouled social media platforms) and suggests its precursor in the 15th century ‘book wheel’. I loved reading about these kinds of connections between the present state of the internet and digital technology and its fascinating precursors.

Although a good companion read to Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing and Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus, be advised E. H. Smith is an academic philosopher so some stretches of this book are quite dense - but well worth the effort!