Stand out of our light : freedom and resistance in the attention economy

Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title page......Page 5 Copyright information......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Epigraph......Page 9 Table of contents......Page 11 Preface......Page 13 1 Philosophy for Trolls......Page 19 Notes......Page 22 I Distraction by Design......Page 23 2 The Faulty GPS......Page 25 Notes......Page 29 3 The Age of Attention......Page 30 Notes......Page 34 4 Bring your own Boundaries......Page 35 Notes......Page 42 5 Empires of the Mind......Page 44 Notes......Page 55 II Clicks against Humanity......Page 59 6 The Citizen is the Product......Page 61 Notes......Page 67 7 The Spotlight......Page 68 Notes......Page 71 8 The Starlight......Page 73 Notes......Page 84 9 The Daylight......Page 86 Notes......Page 98 III Freedom of Attention......Page 103 10 The Ground of First Struggle......Page 105 Notes......Page 113 11 The Monster and the Bank......Page 115 Notes......Page 122 12 Marginal People on Marginal Time......Page 124 Notes......Page 142 13 The Brightest Heaven of Invention......Page 143 Notes......Page 146 Acknowledgments......Page 147 Further Reading......Page 149 Index......Page 150 Former Google advertising strategist, now Oxford-trained philosopher James Williams launches a plea to society and to the tech industry to help ensure that the technology we all carry with us every day does not distract us from pursuing our true goals in life. As information becomes ever more plentiful, the resource that is becoming more scarce is our attention. In this 'attention economy', we need to recognise the fundamental impacts of our new information environment on our lives in order to take back control. Drawing on insights ranging from Diogenes to contemporary tech leaders, Williams's thoughtful and impassioned analysis is sure to provoke discussion and debate. Williams is the inaugural winner of the Nine Dots Prize, a new Prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary social issues. This title is also available as Open Access.