Publishers Weekly
★ 06/05/2023
In this vigorous polemic, University of Southern California professor of communication and digital media Taplin (Move Fast and Break Things) accuses Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg of capitalizing on the low quality of life among America’s poor and working classes by selling them a carefully calculated fantasy. Among other pipe dreams, these “Technocrats” promised that life in the metaverse would be more fulfilling and that an economy based in cryptocurrency would be more equitable. The reality, according to Taplin, is that tech products like crypto and social media only “preserv the status quo” in place since the 1980s—namely chaotic, unregulated free-market liberalism—under which the tech billionaires’ wealth and power has grown. Moreover, Taplin writes, “the rise of social networks correlates with the metastasis of social distrust political polarization” that further entrenches the dominance of these technocrats. Taplin accuses political leaders of being either slow or unwilling to take what he sees as the obvious first steps forward, including breaking up Meta and putting the Securities and Exchange Commission in charge of cryptocurrency. Persuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Presented as a book about the four tech horsemen, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Andreessen, it is in fact something more interesting, a study of the ways these men and their companies wish to remove us from reality entirely…Taplin writes from diverse and impressive life experience…his great virtue as a writer is his humanity, an ability to clearly and elegantly state the case. The persuasive way Taplin builds his arguments, and the direct, uncompromising conclusions he draws, are what make this book so valuable. The End of Reality weaves together an ambitious and far-reaching critique of ‘ our culture of escape from reality,’ highlighting a series of jarring hypocrisies… It’s disturbing, saddening, rage-inducing at times, but I also get the sense it was conceived in the hopeful spirit that it might not be too late.”—Irish Independent
“Scathing but humane…Taplin makes use of his prodigious erudition with a multi-pronged historical analysis…Brilliantly bracing, his sobering wake-up call grabs you by the lapels for a stern talking-to.”—Business Post (Ireland)
“Taplin expertly picks apart each of these self-appointed saviors and their Frankenstein’s monsters of modern technocracy...he retains a relatively objective tone by displaying facts without overt judgement—and by taking the history of propaganda as his context… his argument in The End of Reality is valid and sobering.“ —Rain Taxi Review of Books
“[A] vigorous polemic…Persuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A wake-up call as to what happens when a society elevates people who don’t have the public’s best interests in mind. Jonathan Taplin has a gift for storytelling that turns the bitter pill (reality check) into a fascinating read.” —Scott Galloway, NYU Stern professor of marketing and bestselling author of Adrift
“Tech culture has to improve for the sake of humanity, and that’s not going to happen without critiques like The End of Reality. Please take the time to read this carefully, especially if you are sure it must be wrong.”—Jaron Lanier, author of Who Owns the Future?
“Reading Taplin’s invigorating The End of Reality is akin to attending a huge outdoor feast. There is so much nourishment in his book, so much provocative thinking, so much vivid writing, so much thought that went into the book’s vast menu, that by the final page the reader is left in awe. Taplin is a delightful iconoclast and a daring thinker.”
—Ken Auletta, author of Hollywood Ending
“Once again, Taplin has cut to the core of a heartless techno-oligarchy. If names like Musk, Thiel, and Zuckerberg only cause you distress, Taplin’s careful exposé will move you to outrage, though with hope the hyper-barons can be curbed.”—Sean Wilentz, George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History, Princeton University
“I’ve followed technology, and politics, for decades. But I found a tremendous amount of new information and insight in The End of Reality. Anyone interested in where culture is headed, and how democracy can survive, will want to read this book.”—James Fallows, national correspondent, Atlantic
“Taplin takes us to the inner sanctum of the plutocratic insurgency: where libertarian billionaires, resentful that they are not universally acclaimed as heroes, are spinning a ‘populist’ technophantasmagoria designed first and foremost to distract the rest of us from the vast anti-democratic power and privilege they have amassed for themselves.”—Nils Gilman, senior vice president, the Berggruen Institute
“The End of Reality is incredibly timely and powerful. The technologists pushing us into a world dominated by AI need to abandon their Ayn Rand mindset of ‘who’s going to stop me’ and consider the power of the new, regenerative economics tool set Taplin proposes.”—John Seely Brown, former director, Xerox PARC
“Taplin understands true creativity comes from real people, not the lazy musings of the super-rich or the idea factories of the giant corporation. That’s why he’s fought so hard for so long to protect every human who dreams of making a better world—or just singing a more beautiful song—from the dystopian projects of America’s new autocrats. Want a future that works for you and your family? Here’s your guide.”—Barry Lynn, director of the Open Markets Institute and author of Liberty from All Masters
Library Journal
07/01/2023
Film producer and scholar Taplin is far from a technophobe; he created the Internet's first video-on-demand service and led the Annenberg Innovation Lab at USC. But he is concerned about certain current technological tendencies that he views as unhealthy. He says that concepts such as the metaverse, human colonization of Mars, cryptocurrency, and transhumanism are moral, political, and economic existential threats. This wide-ranging book focuses on four influential technology billionaires: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen. The author argues that the four have adopted a mixture of libertarianism and "fascism," a term he uses expansively to seemingly include any right-wing authoritarianism, not just the ethno-nationalist totalitarianism that the word historically signifies. The book indicates the author's view that these four people encourage hyper-partisanship because it makes changes in the status quo—specifically, increased regulation of their businesses—less likely. The book recommends a reordering of the economy that is more ecologically oriented and decentralized. VERDICT A book that both critiques the business models of specific billionaires and calls for a regenerative economy. Best for readers wary of the metaverse.—Shmuel Ben-Gad
OCTOBER 2023 - AudioFile
Energetically narrated by Jason Culp, this excoriation of our social media-obsessed world, which is now flirting with AI-infused virtual reality--all foisted on us by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen--is convincing, if disquieting. The author has a deep grasp of his subjects and subject matter. He identifies the ways that his four technocrats have manipulated the public to believe their vision is inevitable, and benign. Instead, he argues, they are selling us a calculated fantasy that promotes a "metastasis of social distrust [and] political polarization" that further entrenches their own dominance. Culp imbues this polemic with a sense of urgency before practical solutions are posed. This audiobook has a powerful message: Let us wake up and resist the end of reality. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
