Against Platforms

Surviving Digital Utopia

Mike Pepi

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Paperback

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English

Melville House Publishing
11 February 2025

Society & culture: general

A bold and imaginative critique of the hidden costs of digital life - and a manifesto for a better future . . .

A bold and imaginative critique of the hidden costs of digital life - and a manifesto for a better future . . .

At the turn of the millennium, digital technologies seemed to have immense promise for transforming our society. With these powerful new tools, the thinking went, we would be free to live our best lives, connected to our communities in ways full of infinite potential.

A quarter of a century on, this form of utopianism seems like a cruel mirage. Our lives are more fragmented and pressure-filled as ever, as we race to keep up with technologies that manipulate, command, and drain us at every turn.

So what happened? In Against Platforms, technologist and creator Mike Pepi lays out an explanation of what went wrong - and a manifesto for putting it right.

The key, says Pepi, is that we have been taught that digital technologies are neutral tools, transparent, easily understood, and here to serve us. The reality, Pepi says, is that they are laden with assumptions and collateral consequences - ideology, in other words. And it is this hidden ideology that must be dismantled if we are to harness technology for the fullest expression of our humanity.

By: Mike Pepi
Imprint: Melville House Publishing
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 127mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9781685891374
ISBN 10: 1685891373
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 11 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mike Pepi is a technologist and author who has written widely about the intersection between culture and the Internet. An art critic and theorist, he self-identifies as part of the ""tech left"" - digital natives who want to reshape technology as a force for progressive good. His writing has been published in Spike, Frieze, e-flux, and other venues.

Reviews for Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia

""Mike Pepi shows how we can embrace the promise of technology in humanity's service without getting swept away into the utopianism of the tech bros or the cynically proffered fantasies of venture capitalists. Yes, we can transcend our love-hate relationship with the net."" —Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now