FundamentallySound Blog

Today on the plane I started reading My First Recession by the Australia-based Dutch internet critic Geert Lovink. It's fascinating, he's calling for a complete reinterpretation of the way cultural theorists understand the internet, questioning the degree to which so many theorists have naively swallowed the marketing hype without question. He also challenges the "common-sense" approach of Lawrence Lessig, critiquing Lessig's theoretical foundations in a belief in free-market/American ideals. He also takes on the quasi-New Age idealism of the early internet pioneers, questioning the notion of community as it applies to internet activities. Throughout, Lovink is very optimistic though, seeing this time of weblogs and open source software as a kind of post-90's renaissance of internet culture. His writing is one of the first propoganda-free highly lucid readings of the way society and the internet interact. I can't wait to dig into this book more on that 10 hour KLM flight to San Francisco I'm currently staring down.