Rob Reich

The Stanford-professor authors correctly observe that the wrongness of today's big tech includes "data breaches, surveillance capitalism, biased algorithms, and rampant misinformation" (p 26). They interestingly identify the root cause as an "optimization mind-set" on the part of the founding engineers and computer scientists, as well as the founders' later association with venture capitalists and involvement in politics. There are in-depth chapters on the dire problems with algorithmic show more fairness, privacy, AI, and social-media speech. As for how the problems might be corrected, I'd say, the book is less strong -- partly because it stresses the need for a milieu of democracy, which in the US seems to be in great danger of giving way to Trumpian autocracy by the mid-2020s. show less

As usual with edited volumes, quality varies by articles. The background articles were far more compelling than the philosophical ones, which is too bad because this question of philanthropy driving policy is a tense one.

Interesting discussion of the tension between philanthropy as social benefit and as tax shelter. Makes a case that we don't do as much as we could in the US to prevent abusive uses of philanthropy-as-tax-shelter. Also makes the case that the whole tax-favored status of philanthropy may be unnecessary.

This book is interesting and brought up some arguments about philanthropy that I hadn't thought about. But this book is not good. It is so thick with academese that it's almost impossible to read and get through.