gregorgross reviewed Zed by Joanna Kavenna
Funny but also terrifying look into our immediate future
4 stars
This book is indeed funny. Yet overall, it's terrifying, because it shows we're just a little away from total destruction of our society in the name of technology. This book does not bother with climate change, for it focusses on our insistence on technology to basically surveil and observe us individuals in the name of bettering us and our choices, which means, in the name of making us consume more and dumbing us down. It's funny how we make ourselves transparent, but the providers of these technologies of course never make their own lifestyle, mistakes etc. transparent. In this story, they do this in the name of national security.
There is an antagonist by the name of Guy Matthias, who is an amalgam of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, I think. It's fun to see him go down, yet of course the billionaires never go down, and so Guy stays …
This book is indeed funny. Yet overall, it's terrifying, because it shows we're just a little away from total destruction of our society in the name of technology. This book does not bother with climate change, for it focusses on our insistence on technology to basically surveil and observe us individuals in the name of bettering us and our choices, which means, in the name of making us consume more and dumbing us down. It's funny how we make ourselves transparent, but the providers of these technologies of course never make their own lifestyle, mistakes etc. transparent. In this story, they do this in the name of national security.
There is an antagonist by the name of Guy Matthias, who is an amalgam of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, I think. It's fun to see him go down, yet of course the billionaires never go down, and so Guy stays where he is.
The overall tone of explaining in this book reminds me of Jarett Kobek's novel "I hate the internet".
I thinjk Joanna Kavenna is a name I should remember henceforth.
