Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines, by Steve Talbott

We're immersed in technology - the amount of technology involved in you reading this stands on the shoulders of many great people who came before and who lent a hand in some ways so meaningful that it echoes in the way we do things to this day. People like Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell immediately spring to mind; giving us the means to power computers and connect them. They, of course, didn't connect them for us - but they provided a foundation for others to do so - and those that follow us will build on the legacy of the foundation of technology pioneers. Yet this book isn't about technology pioneers - it is partly about the legacy. It is about society. Throughout the book, Henry David Thoreau haunted me:

Men have become the tools of their tools.

However, this is not a book for Luddites. It is a book about balancing technology with ourselves - the people who peer from behind your social network, your blogosphere, the internet... the people who interact with others through technology. You and me. How does this technology affect us? How will this technology affect us?

Is it being used in the most efficient manner? Is it being used in a human manner?

The author delves into these questions with Odysseus at the start, writing of the many facets of the Greek root of technology, techne, and from there lays a foundation for the book by shaking the foundations of where we are now in our use of technology. What do we lose by gaining technology? What do we gain with technology? Is there a balance we maintain, or are we now become imbalanced? Do people really believe that if we connect enough people and lightning strikes we'll have a sudden collective intelligence out of the information we are awash in, that we have a Dr. Frankenstein waiting to throw the switch to make our society whole somehow? Does a network make a smart mob, or do the people make the mob?

Do computers help in education, and if so, at what cost? Where is the depth in our knowledge; certainly we have the tools for exchanging information but does this allow for the depth of true knowledge? As Richard Feynman wrote:

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines is about these questions - and more. It is about how we interact with our world and each other. There are probing questions which we ignore daily in this book - mysteries of our own creation, covered by the very blinders we created for ourselves. Do we dare address these questions, or shall we carry on and hope that these problems will go away through ignorance?

I read a lot of books, as regular visitors to KnowProSE.com know. As Harold Bloom said:

We read frequently if unknowingly, in quest of a mind more original than our own.

Every now and then, I get lucky. This was one such occasion; while I have thought of many of the things which Steve Talbott wrote about in this book, but he lent a depth which I had not come across in others yet. I controlled myself; there were points where I wanted to email ICT, Digital Divide and Cultural ICT colleagues and say, 'You have got to read this'.

In a world where many of the popular books and blogs revolve around technology and marketing through technology, Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines is Steve Talbott's voice from the wilderness - a clear and example rich exploration of the connection between technology and and the human experience. Clearly written with thoughtful anecdotes, this powerful book is needed most who advocate technology in any human setting. To the mature person who has dealt with technology for decades, this book should resonate. To those less experienced, the questioning can be the start of a guide. And for future generations, this book may well be more needed than the Wikipedia.

After much debate with myself, I am forced to give the highest rating I can for this book - a KnowProSE.com 10/10. This book will stand the tests of time and technology, but not humanity.

Read this book.

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