You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto By Jarod Lanier

1. (50 words minimum for each of the Five Parts of this answer.)
The author makes a series of declarative statements throughout his “Manifesto” (e.g., “Technologies are extensions of ourselves.”)
Choose one of these statements from each of Parts One, Two, Three, Four, and, Five, provide the quote and make an analytical comment on each in relation to the Theme of our Course(Collapsing Certainties).
Note: many of these statements are in the shaded gray boxes on some of the pages of the book.

2. The author of this book, Jaron Lanier, believes that we are evolving toward “phonotropic computing” (page 191) which will involve us in “postsymbolic communication” (page 191), but, in the meantime, from his point of view this Manifesto is needed to jolt us into the realization that we have succumbed to the “hive mind” as we peck away at our keyboards and have become screen-faced (my word) staring at our screens all day long. His main concern is that we are forgetting what the full extent of being a human being is and, instead, we are confining and reducing our personhood by being involved with personal technology. Please answer this question: (50 words minimum) Do you agree or disagree with the central thesis of this book?

3. (50 words minimum) In your opinion, in our 2012 everyday lives, what is the relationship of VR to the “standardized presences on Facebook” or in any other form of online communication?