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Evgeny Morozov wrote a must-read book review that deals with this bloviating mentality: http://bookforum.com/inprint/019_05/10825 http://bookforum.com/inprint/0

by kmfrk 14y ago

Evgeny Morozov wrote a must-read book review that deals with this bloviating mentality: http://bookforum.com/inprint/019_05/10825 http://bookforum.com/inprint/019_05/10825. Can't wait to read his upcoming book on the subject.

corford 14y ago
That is one hell of a review. Thanks for the link.
- kmfrk 14y ago
  Morozov is generally a person you'll want to follow. He's a great modern intellectual. His TED take-down is pure gold, too: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/105703/the-naked-and-the-ted-khanna http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/1.... I submitted his book review a while ago, if people want to discuss it at length. I imagine it'll ruffle the feathers of no small amount of people on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5346781 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5346781. :)
  - bitcartel 14y ago
    Eddie Huang describes TED as a 'Scientology summer camp'. He's not quite as eloquent as Morozov but entertaining nonetheless with interesting details about what TED fellows get up to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk
  - anigbrowl 14y ago
    Excellent stuff. BTW the New Republic has a beautifully clean reading UI - the site has the same feel of Instapaper or ReadItLater - seems like they decided 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'
pron 14y ago
Thanks. I like his analysis, but particularly liked this interesting bit: 'Consider a 2011 survey by a British insurance company in which 11 percent of respondents claimed to have seen an incident but chose not to report it, worried that higher crime statistics for their neighborhood would significantly reduce the value of their properties. In this case, the quality of future data is intricately dependent on how much of the current data is disclosed; unconditional “openness” is the wrong move here—precisely because of feedback loops.'
- kmfrk 14y ago
  This is basically David Simon's journalism in a nutshell as formulated by Campbell: The more any quantitative social indicator is use for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor. Michelle Rhee's tenure is a cautionary tale that people insist to not learn anything from. Gotta juke them stats.
  - pron 14y ago
    Yes, only here the "corruption pressure" is applied by the "free market", not by a bureaucracy. This vital detail pulls the rug from under those who claim that less government would decrease these distortions.

by kmfrk 14y ago

corford 14y ago

That is one hell of a review. Thanks for the link.

kmfrk 14y ago
Morozov is generally a person you'll want to follow. He's a great modern intellectual. His TED take-down is pure gold, too: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/105703/the-naked-and-the-ted-khanna http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/1.... I submitted his book review a while ago, if people want to discuss it at length. I imagine it'll ruffle the feathers of no small amount of people on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5346781 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5346781. :)
- bitcartel 14y ago
  Eddie Huang describes TED as a 'Scientology summer camp'. He's not quite as eloquent as Morozov but entertaining nonetheless with interesting details about what TED fellows get up to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk
- anigbrowl 14y ago
  Excellent stuff. BTW the New Republic has a beautifully clean reading UI - the site has the same feel of Instapaper or ReadItLater - seems like they decided 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'

pron 14y ago

Thanks. I like his analysis, but particularly liked this interesting bit: 'Consider a 2011 survey by a British insurance company in which 11 percent of respondents claimed to have seen an incident but chose not to report it, worried that higher crime statistics for their neighborhood would significantly reduce the value of their properties. In this case, the quality of future data is intricately dependent on how much of the current data is disclosed; unconditional “openness” is the wrong move here—precisely because of feedback loops.'

kmfrk 14y ago
This is basically David Simon's journalism in a nutshell as formulated by Campbell: The more any quantitative social indicator is use for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor. Michelle Rhee's tenure is a cautionary tale that people insist to not learn anything from. Gotta juke them stats.
- pron 14y ago
  Yes, only here the "corruption pressure" is applied by the "free market", not by a bureaucracy. This vital detail pulls the rug from under those who claim that less government would decrease these distortions.