I’m excited that the renowned global philosophy-design magazine New Philosopher is publishing an excerpt from the introduction to Distracted in its latest issue. In this excerpt, I argue that rising levels of inattention and splintered focus are indicative of a dark age. “It’s a darkening time when we think togetherness means keeping one eye, hand, or ear on our gadgets, ever ready to tune into another channel of life,” I write. “We should be concerned when we sense that short-term thinking in the workplace eclipses intellectual pattern making.”
I’ve been called alarmist as far back as 2008, when the first edition of Distracted came out, for steadily warning of the steep costs of tech-centric life. The book kicked off a global conversation on these issues and helped lead to heightened awareness of how technology is undermining human flexibility, time for reflection, social understanding, and imagination. Today, it’s all the more important to ask difficult, skeptical questions about where our devices are leading us. At a time when powerful AI systems are growing insidiously embedded into our lives, it’s critical to stay vigilant. In a new report on the Future of the Internet, I and a majority of experts polled by Elon University and the Pew Research Center express deep worries about humanity’s ability to control both AI and its future by 2035.
If you haven’t seen New Philosopher yet, now is a great time to pick up a copy online or in bookstores worldwide. The “Distraction Rules” issue is chock-full of brilliant insights and provocative art. Give this smorgasbord of thoughts from Antonia Case, DBC Pierre and others a moment or two or three of your focus. You might be surprised at what you gain by attending to the issue of distraction.
Here is a link to my essay, excerpted from Distracted, in New Philosopher:
new-philosopher-land-of-distraction.pdf (11 downloads)
