The Internet of Us (29 page)

as relative, 67–68

perceptual incongruity, 159–60

personal freedom, 101

persuasion, 50–51, 54–55, 56–58

by bots, 82

phone books, 22

phone data collection, 95, 108

photography:

privacy and, 89, 93

sexually-explicit, 99

photo-sharing, manipulation in, 82–83

Plato, 13–14, 16–17, 54, 59, 83, 126, 165–67

polarization, 7

herd mentality in, 66

isolated tribes in, 43–46

politics, 162, 196

accessibility in, 23

activism in, 66, 67

bias in, 43–46

closed, 144–45

elections in, 120–23

of knowledge, 133–54

opposition to critical thinking in, 61–62

persuasion in, 57–58, 82–83

power in, 86, 133

prediction market in, 122–23

Politifact, 46

Popper, Karl, 41–43

Postman, L. E. O., 159–60

power, knowledge and, 9, 98–99, 133–34

practice, 172–73

prediction:

control vs., 182–83

markets, 122–23

searches, 155, 158–59, 183

prejudices, 72–73

primary qualities, defined, 68, 70, 74

printing press, 35, 134

Internet compared to, xv

prisons, 105, 106

fishbowl strategy for, 91

Pritchard, Duncan, 132, 203

privacy:

and autonomy, 89–109

as basic to human dignity, 101–9

changing concept of, 73

control and, 94–95, 186

devaluing of, 89–93, 99–100, 105

of information, 94–100

justification for invasion of, 107–9

right to, 89, 101–2

threat to, 4, 6, 89–109, 186

traded for security, 105, 108

U.S. legislation on, 93, 95–96, 108

values of, 93–95, 109

privacy policies, 105–6

prize competitions, 136–37

problem-solving sites, 136–37

procedural knowledge, 167–74

Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, 84

professors, 152–53

propaganda:

Internet as tool for, 66, 81

political, 82–83

property, changing concept of ownership of, 73

Proposition 8 legislation, 53

prosthetics, 191

pro tanto
, 198

public life, defined, 63

questioning, skill in, 16–17, 171–72

race, 72, 157, 162

racism, 147

radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchips, 7

raft metaphor, for foundation of beliefs, 129

rationalist delusion, 50–55

Rawls, John, 49

reasonableness, 40, 41–63, 90, 125, 179, 196

as anchor for belief, 132, 195

defined, 50, 55

democracy and, 55–63

devaluing of, 147–48

as rationalist' delusion, 50–55

reasons, reasoning:

arbitrary basis for, 47–48

circular, 130–32

common currency for, 50, 63

defined, 39

exchange of, 50–55

fragmentation in, 4, 41–63

Glauconian view of, 54–55, 56–58

individual sensitivity to, 84–85

knowledge based on, 15, 33, 36–40

rules of, 40

shifting the geography of, 147–48

in value judgment, 57

receptive knowledge, 26–31, 37, 48, 60–61, 153–54, 179–80, 187, 194, 203

as anchor for belief, 131–32

in motor skills, 169

reflective vs., 39, 51, 131, 154, 196

Reddit, 24, 116

reflective knowledge, 39, 51, 131, 154, 196

reliability, 14, 27–31, 39–40, 44–45, 114–16, 119–20, 123–25, 130, 194–95

religion:

marriage and, 58–59

science vs., 47–49, 66

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

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
First Edition

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Liveright Publishing Corporation
a division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10110

For information about special discounts for bulk
purchases, please contact W. W. Norton Special Sales at
[email protected] or 800-233-4830

Book design by Daniel Lagin
Production manager: Anna Oler

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