âGreat bookââ Matt Ridley, author ofHow Innovation Works
âEssential readingââ Pete Etchells, author ofUnlocked
An urgent must-readâââ Tiffany Jenkins, author and broadcaster, presenter of BBC Radio 4âsA History of Secrecy
Technology has delivered a world that we expect to revolve around us, our needs and preferences, and our unique personalities. We willingly hand over intimate information about ourselves in return for a world thatâs easier to navigate.
We live in the Personalised Century, where we view ourselves in terms of what rather than who we are â the objects of othersâ recognition, rather than the subjects and authors of our own lives. Is this a sign of our shrinking sense of self?
Interrogating the historical currents that have brought us here, Harkness envisages a messier, riskier and less comfortable world than the one into which weâre sliding. Challenging readers to look at whatâs missing from their personalised menus, encourages us to look afresh at the familiar: not just the technology we use every day, how we relate to the world and those around us.Technology is not the Problem
We already know how much of our data is collected and used to profile and target us. ï»żThe real question is why, knowing all this, do we keep going back for more?