Program or Be Programmed: Eleven Commands for the AI Future

by Douglas Rushkoff

A deep dive into one of this century's most potent do we direct technology, or do we let ourselves be directed by it?

This compact new edition of a paradigmatic text packs a big and actionable punch. Updated with a new section on the unique challenges posed by AI, Program or Be Programmed presents a spirited, accessible poetics of new media. On these pages (and screens), Rushkoff picks up where Marshall McLuhan left off, helping readers recognize programming as the new literacy of the digital age.

The debate over whether the internet is good or bad for us fills the airwaves and the blogosphere. But for all the heat of claim and counter-claim, the argument is essentially beside the it’s here; it’s everywhere. The real question is, do we direct technology, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those who have mastered it? “Choose the former,” writes Rushkoff, “and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make.” In eleven “commands,” Rushkoff provides cyberenthusiasts and technophobes alike with the guidelines to navigate this new universe.

Genres: Technology, Artificial Intelligence

157 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

Douglas Rushkoff is a New York-based writer, columnist and lecturer on technology, media and popular culture.

Reviews

[Holdyn Estes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” for the modern age. Rushkoff brings a lot of balanced insight and practical advice. He doesn’t wax poetic about technological progress, but doesn’t shy away from the benefits of it either. He all too easily could have written a book only bemoaning the downsides of technology, but instead contextualizes the ills and shows us there are better ways forward. This book served as a good kick in the behind for my own thoughtless use of technology, as well as an affirmation regarding much of my thoughts about it. We must be in charge of our own experience with technology. Lest we forget, we are not products to be turned into behaviorally predictive data models, we are human beings. Certainly would recommend. I took away a star because I just really don’t like his writing style

[Dr. Tathagat Varma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is thought-provoking, but for those of us who have been around for a while, the ideas are not new, and the context seems a bit stale and dated. Further, while the chapters are more like essays, it lacks sufficient references, both from history as well as from industry, for the reader to build a context graph in their minds. Finally, the chapters are organized as free-flowing thoughts without any specific structure, or without offering some form of perspective advise, or a concluding section. So while the reading is fast (chapters are crisp enough to be read in one stretch each), the text begins to overwhelm after a few chapters.

[Ryan Smits · Rating 3 out of 5]

The commands themselves are worthwhile and help one to see the biases of digital technology. While this is a reissue with an update, it shows that the majority of this book was from an earlier Rushkoff. It does not have the polish and flow that his more recent books have.

[Paul S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rushkoff can't quite give up his utopian views of what the Internet could be, and this drags down his whole thesis. But his assessment of AI's dangers is pretty spot-on.