Thread by @robreich

Today is the official publication date for the paperback of System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot.

Short 🧵 1/

The book grew out of a sense that Stanford (and Silicon Valley) had lost its way.

CS had become the largest major, Stanford was pumping out incredible technical talent. Yet something was wrong in paradise.
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The rise to power of technologists whose watchwords were disruption and innovation upended our personal, professional, and civic lives. But guided by what broader values?

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System Error diagnoses the systemic core problems -- a blinkered obsession with optimization, a VC-driven appetite for scale at any cost, and longstanding regulatory indifference from policymakers -- and then charts a path forward.

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One year after publication, the landscape has changed somewhat. Policymakers are awakening and citizens distrust Big Tech.

There were calls to boycott Facebook and Google at the Stanford commencement in June.

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And yet the pace of technological change is quickening. System Error ends with a discussion of large language and image generation models like @OpenAI's GPT-3 and DALL-E-2. Add to that the enthusiasm for the metaverse, web3, blockchain, and crypto.

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Ground is shifting beneath our feet. The path forward, we argue, is a revitalization of democracy itself, an acceleration of change in our social institutions to keep pace with technological change.

It's not a new thought:

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More about the book here, with a readers guide, case studies, links to media and interviews, and more.

systemerrorbook.com

8/fin