Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In the past, a revolution in production, such as the industrial revolution, generally increased the wealth and freedom of people. The digital revolution we are living through is different. Instead of leaving a greater number of us in excellent financial health, the effect of digital technologies - and the companies behind them - is to concentrate wealth, reduce growth, and challenge the livelihoods of an ever-increasing number of people. As the protections of the middle class disappear, washed away by crises in capitalism, what is being left in their place? And what else could replace them?

Why is this happening, and what might we do about it? In Who Owns the Future? Jaron Lanier shows how the new power paradigm operates, how it is conceived and controlled, and why it is leading to a collapse in living standards. Arguing that the 'information economy' ruins markets, he reminds us that markets should reward more people, not fewer. He shows us why the digital revolution means more corporations making money and avoiding risk by hiding value off their books, which means more financial risk for the rest of us. From the inner workings of the 'sirenic servers' at the heart of the new power system, to an exploration of the meaning of mass unemployment events, the misuse of big data, and the deep and increasing erasure of human endeavour, Lanier explores the effects of this situation on democracy and individuals, and proposes a more human, humane reality, where risk and reward is shared equally, and the digital revolution creates opportunity for all.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Lanier recognizes that the Internet isn't going away, but also provides a critical analysis of how it operates today (increasingly on mega-servers such as Google and Facebook) and the negative ways it impacts our economy. The author also offers alternative ways users can better enjoy the benefits of the digital age. Narrator Pete Simoneilli's reading initially comes across as excessively nasal. However, his voice will quickly grows on listeners and feel natural and appropriate by the audio production's end. Simoneilli conveys Lanier's cautious but sincere tone throughout, and he does well with emphasis and timing to tease out the sometimes-complex ideas the author presents. Lanier's prose is non-judgmental, and Simoneilli works hard to show this, shifting between a matter-of-fact tone and one of sympathy. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

The author, a computer scientist and ­digital-media pioneer, describes the negative effects on our economy (such as the recent recession and damaged middle class) by digital networks, defined as not only the Internet and the Web, but also other networks operated by outfits like financial institutions and intelligence agencies where the phenomenon of power and money becomes concentrated around the people who operate the most central computers in a network, undervaluing everyone else. Information is considered free, for example, free Internet services for consumers and data that ­financial-services firms collect and use without paying for it. The author's solution is a future in which people are paid for information gleaned from them if that information turns out to be valuable. Lanier describes a future in which most productivity will be driven by software and software could be the final industrial revolution. This is a challenging book about a future information economy that the author suggests does not need to be dominated by technology.--Whaley, Mary Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A sweeping look at why today's digital economy doesn't benefit the middle class and the ways that should change. If many tech books today offer dire, sky-is-falling warnings, then Lanier (You Are Not a Gadget, 2011, etc.) takes that idea a step further: The sky is falling and will continue to fall until it crushes the entire middle class under its weight. Until recently, new technology has always created new jobs, but in this new information economy, "[o]rdinary people share,' while elite network presences generate unprecedented fortunes"--e.g., when Facebook purchased the photo-sharing service Instagram for nearly $1 billion. Lanier claims this trend is "setting up a situation where better technology in the long term just means more unemployment, or an eventual socialist backlash." Although the author opens with this provocative thesis, what follows is a meandering manifesto bogged down by its own terminology. Lanier includes an appendix listing "First Appearances of Key Terms" (many of which he coined), but readers may wonder why the author couldn't explain this jumble of economic theories and futuristic ideas in more lucid terms: Rather than create the word "antenimbosian," why not just say "before the advent of cloud computing"? This isn't to say that Lanier hasn't come up with some exceptional theories. For instance, he hypothesizes that self-driving cars "could be catastrophic" for the economy. Driverless taxis would rob new immigrants of jobs and deny them a "traditional entry ramp to economic sustenance." However, these concepts are so lost in a heap of digressions, interludes and fables--including the continued recurrence of a fictional seaside conversation between a citizen of the future and a "neuro-interfaced seagull"--that the signal-to-noise ratio may prove to be too much for all but the most dedicated tech readers. An assortment of complex and interesting ideas, buried under the weight of too much jargon.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.