Christine Rosen

"Reproducibility in the age of digitization allows nearly any work of art -- paintings, sculpture, literature, music -- to be transformed into... information."

Our culture—our entire species, really—is going through a technological change unlike anything it has ever experienced before. "There's nothing new under the sun" might be the classic retort here, but one also might be forced to admit THIS TIME is an exception. Improvements in technology over the past two centuries at least made show more sense when it relieved humans of grinding, monotonous labor. But increasingly we're being inundated with options to relieve us of... human interaction? As if the work of co-existing, physically, with one another is an annoyance. To some of you, it might be.

The potentially dangerous hypothesis posed in Christine Rosen's The Extinction of Experience is, what are we to do when we engineer away the need for human experience entirely. Unfortunately, there are those "forward-thinkers" in the tech world (see AI) who are putting us on an ever-increasing treadmill, and making decisions for us faster than we can stop to question if it's really something we want. Or more darkly, can survive.

An apt and familiar quote comes to mind: "You were so preoccupied with whether you could, you didn't stop to think if you should." - Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park show less

This was a fascinating yet depressing listen, but I also think it’s so important as well. There is so much dying in our world both figuratively and literally, and the author did a wonderful job breaking it all down.

This very readable book details the author's experiences attending a fundamental Christian school from kindergarten through ninth grade. Having attending a fundamentalist school myself, I found her somewhat ironic descriptions of the pledge to the Christian flag, the focus on Jesus in sporting events, creationist science lessons, and endless lectures on the potential harlotry of women spot on. The key to the book's success is how she avoids the bitterness felt by many ex-fundies. A great show more read if you have any experience with Christian fundamentalism or want to know exactly how kids in the fold are educated. show less

I heard Christine Rosen interviewed on NPR and was moved to read the book. Both were good