The Thought Trap: Walled gardens and online propaganda are eating our minds

by Nate Levesque

We live in an era like no other. Virtually unlimited information, social connections, and personalized recommendations are at our fingertips every second of every day. We can connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime. But is it the utopia it sounds like?

We’re overwhelmed with information. Our digital lives are tracked and analyzed. Our social feeds show us clickbait, hoaxes, and habit-forming features. New technologies have given us fake photos, Deepfake video, fabricated audio, and even realistic but completely computer-generated speeches from world leaders. Even the tools our social networks give us to report those problems are getting used against us.

We don’t always know who or what is behind it. But, they know our social media is a powerful place for propaganda. Mob mentality, confirmation bias, and our willingness to re-share without double checking make it easy for us to be manipulated—to trade the commodity that is our attention, to change our opinion, or to sell us something. And, we don’t always know why or when it’s happening.

The Thought Trap examines the dystopian side to our web of unlimited information. How are we getting manipulated? To what end? What’s happening across the threshold of the massive online platforms we’re all part of?

153 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 7, 2019

About the author

Nate Levesque is a software engineer, independent author, and digital rights advocate. He writes about technology and digital rights, including his blog, his other book, Please Upgrade for Access, and has written for Opensource.com. Nate holds a degree in software engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and builds networking products at his day job.

Reviews

[J. Nic Fisk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The principles were good and ahead of their time in many ways. It seems to contain common wisdom these days, but wasn't so at the time. The writing itself was reflective of a writer nascent to print and in their career, but is forgivable given the solid idea and conveyance.