THE INTERNET OF US

With far-reaching implications, this urgent treatise promises to revolutionize our understanding of what it means to be human in the digital age.

The paradox confronting us today is that even as we know more and process information at a faster rate, we reason, think, and understand less. While a wealth of literature has been devoted to similar topics, the deep philosophical implications of this seismic shift have not been properly explored until now. Demonstrating that knowledge based on reason plays an essential role in society and that there is more to knowing than just acquiring information, leading philosopher Michael P. Lynch shows how the modern Internet has distorted not only the way we learn and communicate but also the very essence of what it means to be human. Charting a path from Plato's cave to Sheldon's mathematical theory of information to Google Glass, Lynch builds on previous works by Nicholas Carr, James Gleick, and Jaron Lanier to give us a necessary guide for how to navigate the philosophical quagmire that is the Information Age.

Michael P. Lynch is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut and Associate Fellow at both the Arché Centre for Logic, Language, Metaphysics, and Epistemology at the University of St. Andrews and the Northern Institute of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen.