Andrew Keen is an Internet entrepreneur who founded Audiocafe.com in 1995 and built it into a popular first generation Internet company. He is the currently the executive director of the Silicon Valley salon FutureCast, the host of a long-running Techcrunch chat show called Keen On, a columnist for CNN and a regular commentator for many other newspapers, radio and TV networks around the world. He is also an acclaimed speaker, regularly addressing the impact of digital technologies on 21st century business, education and society. He is the author of the international sensation Cult of the Amateur, which has been published in 17 different languages. His most recent book is Digital Vertigo.
Praise for The Internet Is Not the Answer: "The Internet Is Not the
Answer is the most compelling, persuasive, and passionately
negative thing I've yet read on this topic. It offers a scary
picture of how the ultra-libertarian superstars of Silicon Valley
are leading us inexorably into a future with the sort of social
inequalities not seen in the West since the early days of the
Industrial Revolution."--Kazuo Ishiguro, New Statesman (Books of
the Year) "Andrew Keen has written a very powerful and daring
manifesto questioning whether the Internet lives up to its own
espoused values. He is not an opponent of Internet culture, he is
its conscience, and must be heard."--Po Bronson "Andrew Keen is the
Christopher Hitchens of the Internet. Neglect this book with peril.
In an industry and world full of prosaic pabulum about the
supposedly digitally divine, Keen's work is an important and sharp
razor."--Michael Fertik, CEO, Reputation.com "This is the best and
most readable critique of Silicon Valley yet. Keen is no
technophobe nor a stranger to The Valley and this is what makes his
book especially devastating. On the other hand it allows him to
carve out a small space for optimism."--David Lowery, founder of
Camper Van Beethoven and cofounder of Cracker "Keen is intent on
exposing the greed, egotism and narcissism that fuels the tech
world . . . Even if you don't agree with, say, his vitriolic
takedowns of Uber and Airbnb, his sheer passion is likely to hold
your interest."--Chicago Tribune "The Internet Is Not the Answer
claims that the only real best friend today's tech titans have is
money, and until policymakers intervene, or until the 'digital
elite' adopt a more altruistic posture, the Internet will remain a
winner-take-all marketplace that's widening a yawning gulf between
society's haves and have-nots. . . . The Internet Is Not the Answer
supports its convincing narrative with startling numbers and
research cataloged over roughly forty pages worth of
endnotes."--San Francisco Chronicle "The Internet Is Not the Answer
returns to arguments that Mr. Keen has made in previous books,
expanding the case for worries about privacy in the wake of the
revelations of Edward Snowden . . . it makes a strident economic
argument. . . . Unbridled techno-Utopianism shows only the
revolution's benefits, and is dangerously incomplete. It is handy,
therefore, to have sceptics like Mr. Keen around."--Economist
"[Keen] can be a telling polemicist and has a sharp eye when it
comes to skewering the pretensions and self-delusions of the new
digital establishment. . . . Keen has a sharp ear for the
sanctimonious of tech happy talk." --Financial Times "[Keen is] the
most famous British tech voice in the US."--GQ "Keen's larger point
stands: The tech world, like industrial capitalism before it, will
not become sufficiently equitable unless we legislate it to be that
way . . . So instead of waiting for technology to sort us out, Keen
argues that it's time to intervene--to manage digital developments
in ways that increase rather than undermine human welfare."--Globe
and Mail "The Internet Is Not the Answer is the most frightening
book I've read in years (perhaps in my lifetime), as frightful as
the conservative Supreme Court justices and the deniers of climate
change. . . . Keen is unsparing of what he calls 'the libertarian
elites' who want to eliminate all oversight, all regulations, all
concern for the safety of others. . . . I'd call him a
prophet."--CounterPunch "Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Keen
takes on the very institution that provides his living . . .
Impassioned and insistent, this is a wake-up call worth
considering."--Cleveland Plain Dealer "Andrew Keen has again shown
himself one of the sharpest critics of Silicon Valley hype, greed,
egotism, and inequity. His tales are revealing, his analyses
biting. Beneath the criticism is a moral commitment, too, a defense
of humane society--the right to be left alone, a fair shot at
success, access to the doings of the powerful, and other democratic
ideals threatened by the Internet and its moguls."--Mark Bauerlein,
author of The Dumbest Generation "Keen provokes us in every sense
of the word--at times maddening, more often thought-provoking, he
lets just enough out of the Silicon Valley hot air balloon to start
a real conversation about the full impact of digital technology.
But will anyone accept the invitation? And, if they do, will anyone
thank Andrew Keen for bursting our bubble? If so, maybe there's
hope for the digital generation after all."--Larry Downes,
co-author of Unleashing the Killer App "A provocative title and an
even more provocative book. Andrew Keen rightly challenges us to
think about how the internet will shape society. I remain more
optimistic, but hope I'm right to be so."--Mark Read, CEO, WPP
Digital "Andrew Keen has done it again. With great authority he
places modern Silicon Valley into a historical context, comparing
its structure to the feudal system, which produced a wealthy elite
from the efforts of myriad serfs. If you have read The Circle, this
is your next read. Like me, you may find much to disagree with. But
you won't be able to put it down. This is a book that demands a
reaction. The Valley will never be the same."--Keith Teare,
co-founder of TechCrunch, Easynet and RealNames "Keen makes a
deeply important argument and offers a constructive caution that
there is no Moore's Law for human progress, that technological
determinism is not a good in itself, and that until we fuse
technology with humanity the real power in the technology that
connects will in many ways be to disconnect us from what
matters."--Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN and author of How For the past
two decades, as we listened to a chorus of pundits tell us the
Internet would generate more democracy and opportunity, the real
world seems to grow more oppressive and unequal by the day. Drawing
on his formidable knowledge of this New Economy, Andrew Keen
explains why Uber could make billions destroying taxi unions, to
cite just one example - and why some people still see this as
progress. If you've ever wondered why the New Economy looks
suspiciously like the Old Economy--only with even more for the
winners and less for everyone else--put down your shiny new phablet
and read this book.--Robert Levine, author of Free Ride "The
argument travels between a beach in Mexico where the photo-sharing
app Instagram was invented on a laptop and the boarded-up buildings
in Rochester, N.Y., that memorialize the bankruptcy of Kodak. . . .
[Keen] knows the digital world inside and out--both as an
entrepreneur and as a journalistic commentator."--Christian Science
Monitor "Keen goes among the Silicon Valley hipsters--those who
truly believe they are on the verge of joining the one percent who
own half the winner-takes-all economy--and he is not
impressed."--New Scientist "Keen, himself a veteran of the tech
industry, reveals the behind-the-scenes workings of the Internet .
. . His best message, however, is that with consideration and the
application of care we can still shape a future society that
utilizes the strengths of the internet while not allowing it to
overwhelm us and turn us into robotic servants of the very
technology that was designed to help us gain freedom and growth as
human beings." --The Daily News Online
"If you're stuck like a fly in the World Wide Web and your life is
largely lived online, then The Internet Is Not the Answer is a book
you won't be able to put down."--Journal Record "Should be
applauded for rowing against the tide of veneration for
technological innovation."--Daily Telegraph "A punchy manifesto on
the internet age. . . . [Keen] guides us through the history and
excess of the net, from its arrival in 1991, though the birth of
Instagram in 2010 and onwards, to the specter of privacy concerns
and 'big data' that loom over us today. . . . The book is dazzling
in scope. . . . This book is a must-read for anyone remotely
concerned about their lives on the net."--Independent "Andrew
Keen's pleasingly incisive study argues that, far from being a
democratizing force in society, the internet has only amplified
global inequities. . . . [Keen] wants to persuade us to transcend
our childlike fascination with the baubles of cyberspace so that we
can take a long hard look at the weird, dysfunctional,
inegalitarian, comprehensively surveilled world that we have been
building with digital tools. . . . Keen challenges the dominant
narrative about the internet--that it's a technology that
liberates, informs and empowers people."--Guardian "The most
devastating book I've read in a long while. Keen describes an
Internet that's not as virtuous, open and egalitarian as was
promised by those who developed it . . . this is from someone who
embraces the digital age and still sees its potential."--San Jose
Mercury News "Keen warns of [the] Internet's disastrous impact . .
. [he] argues that the digital revolution has been--his words--'an
epic fail.' . . . A harsh critique of the digital world."--Voice of
America "A devastating new book."--Daily Mail "Given the increasing
power of technology in our lives, it's worth spending some time
with skeptics, people like Andrew Keen . . . The Internet Is Not
the Answer is a polemic with a good dose of gratuitous tech bashing
. . . Keen argues that the Internet's hidden costs outweigh its
benefits."--Mercury News "Keen wants you to know that the Internet
has not lived up to its early promise. Rather than fostering an
environment of intellectual and social democracy, it has spawned a
rule-by-mob culture, promoted narcissism and voyeurism, encouraged
intolerance and exclusivity, created global monopolies, increased
unemployment, and decimated whole industries."--Booklist "A damning
indictment of the Internet and digital technology . . . A
well-written, convincing critique of Silicon Valley, and a worthy
read for anyone with an email account."--Publishers Weekly "It is
with an acerbic wit, perspective and profound dismay that Keen
dismisses the Internet as the revolutionary vehicle for progressing
human civilization that it started out to be."--Prague Post "[A]
brilliant, packed history . . . An outstanding polemic, not only
for internet sceptics (below as well as above the age of sixty) but
also for its credulous users."--Sydney Morning Herald
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