The Know-It-Alls: The Rise of Silicon Valley as a Political Powerhouse and Social Wrecking Ball

by Noam Cohen

The world’s tech giants are at the centre of controversies over fake news, free speech and hate speech on platforms where influence is bought and sold. Yet, at the outset, almost everyone thought the internet would be a positive, democratic force, a space where knowledge could be freely shared to enable everyone to make better-informed decisions. How did it all go so wrong? Noam Cohen reports on the tech libertarians of Silicon Valley, from the self-proclaimed geniuses Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman and Mark Zuckerberg to the early pioneers at Stanford University, who have not only made the internet what it is today but reshaped society in the process. It is the story of how the greed, bias and prejudice of one neighbourhood is fracturing the Western world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Business, Internet, History, Politics, Sociology

Paperback

Reviews

[Dominik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven. Not much new ground gets covered here; existing histories of Silicon Valley are liberally quoted and rehashed to frame an overarching thesis that libertarian individualism serves as the nefarious motivation of leading tech companies.

That thesis isn't well supported; libertarianism is taken as self-evidently bad, and the author can't resist throwing barbs throughout the text ("market-obsessed," putting quotes around "freedom," an apparent grudge against quantification and mathematics). The book's argument would be much more persuasive without resort to such small-mindedness. (I read this book not long after reading Tim Wu's The Attention Merchants, which raises many of the same issues but does so much more thoughtfully, and thus, more persuasively.)

Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others owe at least some of their success to real people actually choosing to use their products over those of their competitors. (This is not a book about AltaVista, Friendster, and eBay, for example). If the companies profiled in this book are the foul provenance of those dastardly techno-utopian empathy-blind individualistic libertarians... why do so many people use their products, and indeed, love those companies? The book never explores this.

Lastly, the book offers no solutions, no policy proposals for how a better future might come about or even what it might look like, apart from a vague wish that the future be "local, small-scale, [and] active." That wish itself is taken as undoubtably a good thing -- as if there were no risk of small-minded parochialism with its attendant set of evils.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where would you be without the internet? You are reading this review on a device of some kind, and if you are like most people then you will have shopped recently on it, chatted with someone on a social website, done a little research, and faffed around quite a lot no doubt. It is now one of life's essentials along with power and water, and if you have teenagers then you know for them it is their lifeblood.

There are a number of people who have been in the driving of this profound change to the way that society functions now, Berners-Lee was the man who created the world wide web that sits on the internet, but this book is concerned with some of the greatest entrepreneurs who have made their mark in cyberspace and the world.

There is a chapter with an interesting profile of eleven of the most influential individuals who have shaped the web that we use today, including Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook as well as one of the first, Marc Andreessen creator of Netscape (remember that?). They have all become rich from their creations, but though the money is important to these men, and they are all men, , they are driven by the desire to be number one in their sphere and to form the world around them as they see fit, demanding that freedom of speech and individuality should have precedence over regulations and laws. As much as these men dislike and abhor oversight and control of big government, the way that they run the companies is not dissimilar to that of a dictatorship.

These websites now rule our lives, they have permeated our lives in so many ways and we now rely on them. They have countless reams data acquired from us legitimately and surreptitiously, as with a lot of these you are the product. Given the continued fallout from the Cambridge Analytical and Facebook, this is a subject that will have a keener eye turned on it in the coming months. I thought that the conclusion was very sparse as he could have been much more critical of the major players. It could have also had more to say about the future of the web, for example, what happens after Google? However, it was an interesting start to a conversation that has a long way to go.

[Sara Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important attention paid to the ideological stance of Silicon Valley leaders which Cohen describes as a combination between hacker’s arrogance and an entrepreneur’s greed. The stakes are high: Silicon Valley’s leaders are shaping our world, even if their legitimacy is tied only to market success.

Cohen traces libertarian values back to Stanford University and Artificial Intelligence researcher John McCarthy. It’s convenient to look to those interested in codifying our most human characteristics and skills into machines, but Cohen’s revisionist account glosses over a very uneven history of varying popularity of AI research through AI winters, etc.

Cohen’s chapters follow individual leaders. This of course makes for straightforward storytelling and identifiable protagonists, but exacerbates an individualistic focus on great man myths or lone genius myths, instead of looking at the systems and social contexts that support these men and their ideologies. Sourced almost entirely from popular coverage and tweet streams, Cohen overlooks a rich literature addressing the political economy of tech. One might be better off reading Fred Turner’s From Counterculture to Cyberculture and Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron’s The Californian Ideology, both canonical texts on the subject which Cohen seems to have overlooked entirely.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a little awkward posting this review on a site that is owned by Amazon.com as Jeff Bezos plays a somewhat supporting role in this book. It's kinda like being invited to a party and dissing the host's choice of shower curtains.

But at any rate, here are my takeaways from the book: since the early days of "computer science," the field has been ruled by a certain type: nerdy, libertarian, white males. From John McCarthy to Bill Gates to Jeff Bezos to Mark Zuckerberg to Peter Theil to Marc Andreesen... the list goes on and on. Nothing against nerdy, libertarian, white males. Quite to the contrary, I hope to be one myself someday. But having this particular psychographic profile wielding such power and influence has a certain impact on the everyday lives of people around the globe. As a unit, these guys have a somewhat misplaced sense that the world is more meritocratic than it actually is (we made it, didn't we?) and that the essence of anything can be boiled down to a quantifiable, objective data point. That can produce a pretty thick set of lenses to try to peer through when it comes to race, gender equality, education, politics... shit, pretty much anything that actually matters. For that, we might want to pull in the artists, the poets, the historians and the folks who can deal with human ambiguity on such conversations. We'll all be better off for it.

[jasmine sun · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick, interesting read. informative rebuttal to the libertarian bootstraps myths a lot of folks around here tout, highlighting how network effects and elite institutions (not sheer brains and bootstraps!) enabled the runaway success of a few lucky hackers and financiers. in fact, stanford plays almost as large a role as the ambitious entrepreneurs themselves, making “the know-it-alls” a salient and comprehensive history of the university’s industrial intimacies.

I just wish there was more analysis of the structural economic and political factors that enabled these men to succeed — as another reviewer put it, the book occasionally gets trapped in the same individualistic ethic it critiques.

[Wendy Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breezy journalistic coverage of various tech moguls. Could use more analysis, as Jasmine Sun's GR review says. Most of it will be familiar if you've been following tech news but there are some fun tidbits.

[Atila Iamarino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma biografia de várias personalidades do Silicon Valley, passando pelos primeiros pioneiros, Bill Gates e Bezos, até Peter Thiel e Zuckerberg. Todos homens, claro. Vários dos pontos do livro já foram cobertos por outros que recomendo mais, como The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy ou The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, ou mesmo qualquer coisa do Tim Wu.

O que fez este livro interessante para mim foi a explicação sobre o Thiel, o tipo de influência que ele exerce no SV e como ele influenciou Zuckerberg desde o começo da criação do Facebook. E como o discurso libertário e contra regulação desse grupo serve muito mais como caminho para o monopólio do que qualquer opinião sobre livre-mercado. São as pessoas que operam o que está por trás da tecnologia que usamos todo dia e de uma série de discussões sobre regulação de mercado. E vale muito entender quais são os interesses em jogo.

[Austin Gaghadar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be a mediocre commentary on the development of the tech industry, the cabal of tech billionaires and the impact that they have had in shaping our society. For me personally, the biggest value-add from this book was the history. I appreciated the tracing of the roots of the programming profession and computer science as a way to reflect on how the industry has changed, and what has not changed, over time. Almost 10 years after publication it was also striking how many of the concerns raised are still relevant. The framing of the similarities between the different tech companies and the linkages between them was also impactful in highlighting the massive impact that network effects can have on the development of a life, a company, and our society. This book also provided a different take from the more optimistic bent that I tend to take when approaching technology and successful individuals, providing some useful context and food for thought.

There were a couple of ways that I felt this book fell short of the potential. The first was the choice of chapters to include. There were a couple of chapters that were very short, meaning they providing very little content or depth in their investigations and I think should not have been included or should have been more comprehensively fleshed out. I also felt there were some opinions that were stated as facts, such as some criticisms of libertarianism which weakened the arguments that were being made. In a similar vein, the author did not substantively engage with some of the more nuanced edges of the points being made, and potential counterarguments, including many positive spill-overs from the tech industry.

Overall, there are interesting and new facts, figures, and framing on an important topic explored in a somewhat cursory manner without a clear bent towards advocacy or simply providing information.

[Tess Mortimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was really interesting & gave a pretty broad overview of the history of silicon valley and the origins of big tech companies. Cohen gives some solid critiques of the values of silicon valley “know-it-alls” (especially those that lead to terrible working conditions for their staff) but unfortunately he builds a fair few strawmen along the way. i know it was never intended to be an objective look into big tech but characterising a lack of censorship online as favouring “freedom over empathy” gives an example of some of the less nuanced takes this book has to offer. still some good food for thought and an interesting read for people who know very little about tech like me though i imagine you could do better lololol

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

".. a prescription for a just society that begins with 'a commitment to the local, the plural, the small scale, and the active.' We can't tolerate an Internet, or a society, led by a few self-proclaimed geniuses claiming to serve mankind." Page 208, The Know-It-Alls by Noam Cohen

excellent and crucial read for radical technologists and even those who trust in the ascending tech overlords.

[Laura Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy read but came across as extremely hostile towards tech entrepreneurs. Read it, enjoy it, but then, seek out other perspectives.

[Stephen Murley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a driving interest in this subject as I live and work in the Bay area where the presence of these internet giants are ubiquitous. The book provides informative profiles on the careers of many of the key movers and shakers. Although I am very familiar with some of these individuals, I found the book very helpful in discussing the early role during the 1950's and 1960's of John McCarthy, computer science pioneer and creator of the AI programming language LISP, and Fredrick Terman, who rose through the Stanford engineering school as a professor and then eventually to campus provost. Terman is considered the Father of Silicon Valley in that he laid the groundwork for Standford becoming the engine for Valley entrepreunerism. His most famous early students and proteges were William Hewlett and David Packard. I was also interested in understanding the genesis and role of the PayPal Mafia. PayPal's rise and eventual sale to eBay conveyed significant wealth and prestige to the PayPal staff which include Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Mark Andreesen, the founder of Netscape, hovers continally throughout the book. Andreesen parlayed his Netscape cash into becoming one of the most influential Venture Capitalists in the Valley today.

[Stephen Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I'd previously read and enjoyed Noam Cohen's coverage of Wikipedia for the New York Times, WIRED, and other publications. THE KNOW-IT-ALLS goes back to the early days, to the computer lab of computer scientist John McCarthy in the 1970s. The hacker ethos at the time wasn't perfect (hackers were aggressive, women were excluded), but it did have high ideals, beliefs that thinking machines could make things better for society.

Cohen shows how this idealism was twisted into the status quo where the internet is commercial and dominated by large Big Tech platforms. What I liked most were the chapters where Cohen pairs the history with a controversial argument, such as the claim that it's not necessarily a good thing to put hyper-rational engineers in charge of major tech platforms (and by extension, our democracy). The book reminded me how important it is to trace how the internet has diverged from Tim Berners-Lee's original intention for his invention. Nowadays we have centralized Big Tech companies, where the original goal was a diversity of voices and platforms, free to organize and collaborate on their own. I also appreciated the narration by Adam Grupper, who came across as reasonable but spirited throughout.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fish stinks from the head. It's easy to see why many of our problems with Big Tech today are intimately related to the personalities and values of the guys at the top. Peter Thiel is the worst of them. This book makes the case that the rest of them are not far behind and are only more measured than Thiel in their rhetoric, not in their core beliefs. This is a problem that cries out for empowering good old fashioned federal regulatory commissions. Sometimes the commissions suffer from regulatory capture, but even then they are generally better than unrestrained markets controlled by assholes. Maybe we could have some actual enforcement of antitrust laws, a revival of labor unions, legally enforced portability of accounts and some better restraints on false, hateful and bullying online speech. There are a lot of things that can be done to address these problems, but none of them will be done in this administration. Maybe someday. The great wheel turns.

[Cylia Kamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it seems that I'm prone to give most books that I read "5 Stars." But I don't think that's the reason I end up with so many highly rated books. Rather I think it's because I'm a slow reader and therefore very selective about what I read. I don't want to waste time on books I don't like so I move them to the "gave up upon" category very early in my reading process. But I don't always give the authors the "gave up upon" publicly. After all, I'm retired and I'm reading what I want and not what an instructor has assigned. Getting a "gave up upon" seems like such a wet blanket. I've written a lot and taken several ONLine writing courses. I know that a bad review can hurt feelings because writing is no easy task, and this can result in the author giving up hope. If I were doing the reading as a job, then I would be more likely to be super critical.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The TKIA by Noam Cohen is a critique of Silicon Valley and its leaders.
The main premise is that these leaders ideology - libertarianism - is in its essence bad and leads to the terrible reality that we live in now.

The book covers 11 of the main players, past and present, beginning with John McCarthy (the inventor of AI), Lewis and Frederick Terman (the popularizer of IQ tests and Stanford provost that helped to connect academic research and industry in a way that was beneficial to Stanford and the few selected ones), Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Brin and Page, and ending with Mark Zuckerberg. I knew many of the life-stories the book brings. Perhaps it is because I was a grad student at Stanford with an office in now-demolished Fred Terman building (read the last two paragraphs of chapter on Fredrick Terman). Overall the series were well written and easy to read.

more at https://tiwirata.blogspot.com/2018/08...

[Book Grocer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchase The Know-It-Alls here for just $12!

A stunningly well-researched book about the rise of Silicon Valley and its role as a strong force in American life. The power of the internet and start-ups has grown immeasurably in the past 30 years and Cohen does not shy away from detailing how the lust for power has driven some famous men whom we only need to know by surname, including Bezos and Zuckerberg.

Elisa - The Book Grocer

[Mehrsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting premise--imperfect execution. The idea is that the new titans of industry (the tech dudes) are all steeped in a libertarian, individualistic political philosophy and this informs the entire industry. I buy it, but I am not sure Cohen makes the case. What's most interesting about the book is the geneaology of each titan and his connection to the others as well to a few influential Stanford professors. The white-male-ness of the field is also noted and reflected upon. There are lots of great questions and observations here, but not a coherent and convincing thesis.

[Brandon Colligan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scathing, thought-proking critique of the hypocricies of Silicon Valley and the libertarian idealism that drives its thinking despite its publically funded roots. Cohen provides criticism harshly and unevenly, often to the personalities that characterize big tech while failing to proporationately give credit to the benefits of their innovations. Still, in an age where ruthless, market driven innovation is given applause without acknowledgement of its real origins, this is a much needed, if unperfect, critique of the tech bohemoths.

[Sidney Wheatley · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you hate Silicon Valley and technology and have no interest in having your idea challenged, this is the book for you!

Technologists are far from perfect but this book attempts to take excerpts from a few of the notorious ones and tries to frame them in his pre existing world view that they are hypocrites that profited from the internet while ruining it for everyone.

If you’re looking to understand the inner workings of SV or even the players within them, there are far better and even handed books out there.

[Peter Harrington · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately this is another book that I had to give one star because the title of the book had little to do with what the book was about; misleading titles is like watching fake news to me. In short the book is 99% about the rise of Computer Programmers and 1% touches on anything political concerning these persons. It was a great read on how they made the computer industry work for them and how they used this work to build what we all take for granted; computers and the world wide web.

[Maciej Brzyski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Know-It-All’s is relevant for today’s time because of the foundations of tech giants it presents through the history of Stanford and its influences as well as the evolution of the web to its commercialized form.

What I found most interesting about the Know-It-Alls was the size and speed these tech titans adapted their platforms and created empires. They’ve done this at an early age and were able to change their product to an increasingly commercialized market. We’ve seen viewpoints evolve from uncorrupting search engines to adding advertisements because “users like them more”. The libertarian belief that runs through Silicon Valley today is exacerbated through epic names that started during this rise. People like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel used their networks to bounce into their next calling with huge advantages over the competition. We see them influencing today’s culture with the same “do it yourself attitude” but these men were incredibly well financed with being a part of the PayPal mafia. The times have changed but mindsets centered on growth and scale have not. Cohen wants us to know “the political powerhouse” they are and their unique for the time but not practical to today’s age backstories.

[Lemb The_reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the style used by the author to practically write short biographies of each of the tech giants he talked about. I particularly think that the brightest should indeed rule the world, a view that seems to bother Mr. Noam.

Above everything, this book is a gem that only personal political views can challenge... It was an excellent read. Really!

[Frank DiPrimo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read describing the rise of Silicon Valley and it main players and geniuses and billionaires and its effect on society's class, economy, and politics.
Well written and not too political or opinionated.

[JR Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book should be considered incomplete. It barely touches on the socially destructive consequences relevant to those covered in the book. Even though I had the context needed from following the news, the author assumes too much knowledge learned elsewhere.

[M Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice history of the world that led to the internet, social media, e-commerce, world wide web before it became evil.

Reading this in 2019 of the world I grew up in during the 1990s and 2000s really shows my age, it also shows the importance of technology in an exceptionally fragile world.

[Eva Kuvise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good short stories for each of prominent people who shaped the internet as we know it.
A good read to get you started with Silicon Valley’s history I like that there are a lot of references at the end if you want to read more about a particular topic you could explore further.

[Laura Egan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting history of the internet and the start of technology companies. Quick read.

[Ajay Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read, it's a know it all for all the tech entrepreneurs.

[Ronson Rouble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stanford University has had a profound impact on current digital world