Let Them Eat Data

by Chet A. Bowers

Book Overview

Do computers foster cultural diversity? Ecological sustainability? In our age of high-tech euphoria we seem content to leave tough questions like these to the experts. That dangerous inclination is at... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082032230X
• ISBN13: 9780820322308
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Extreme, but very interesting and certainly worth reading

I personally do not agree with a lot that Bowers has to say in this book, but it is worth reading to get the "other sides" point of view. If you can wade through all the apocalyptic rantings, he has some very interesting commentary on how computers and science has affected our culture. I only really liked reading chapters 2-4 (out of 6 total I think), but they were certainly worth it. Pick this book up if you have a chance, at the very least it will stimulate you to rethink your own arguement for or against technology.

Technology is an addictive drug...

Bowers' work is an excellent argument for careful reconsideration of "pushing" computing tools as a panacea. I was especially struck by hi intimation that technology is like a drug that causes addiction. Books of this type should be required reading for a variety of policymakers, and this particular book makes the issue of 'tech addiction" easy to understand.

A social analysis of the computer's effects on life

How do computers affect such diverse social issues as cultural diversity, educational quality and ecological systems? Let Them Eat Data provides a social analysis of the computer's effects on life, considering how computer-enforced cultural patterns contribute to global ecological problems. A unique, involving probe of some unusual effects of the new computer world.

Informative, insightful, & thought-provoking

In Let Them Eat Data: How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity, And The Prospects Of Ecological Sustainability, C.A. Bowers discusses the issues that arise from the gap between common perceptions and the realities of global computing. These issues include the misuse use of the theory of evolution to justify and legitimate the global spread of computers. Bowers also covers the ecological and cultural implications of unmooring knowledge from its local contexts as it is digitized, commodified, and packaged for global consumption. Let Them Eat Data is informative, insightful, thought-provoking, and highly recommended reading for those with an interest in how the computer and the Internet are influencing popular culture, education, as well as creation and dissemination of information.