"A wave of sadness and horror hits me with the word 'slaughterhouse.' The suddenness of the announcement, the feeling of being trapped, the guilt and responsibility I feel for my cow avatar, who I somehow feel is me ... it's remarkably heavy for having been in this virtual life only a few minutes."
Read the excerpt.
2. In the Era of Instagram, Narcissism as the New Norm
From "The Attention Merchants," by Tim Wu
Social media has created an 'attention economy' that's "devolved into a chaotic mutual admiration society, full of enterprising Narcissi," writes Wu. With the advent of the smartphone and Instagram, "much of the power of a great film studio was now in every hand attached to a heart yearning for fame; not only could one create an image to rival those of the old icons of glamour, but one could put it on a platform where millions might potentially see it." This, Wu argues, "warps our understanding of our own existence and its relation to others. That this should become the manner of being for us all is surely the definitive dystopic vision of late modernity."
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3. Has Technology Ruined the Radiology Profession?
From “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age," by Bob Wachter
Because radiology was the first medical specialty to computerize, what has happened to the profession is our canary in the digital coal mine, Wachter writes. Radiology was once the "beating heart" of hospitals, where "everybody from the lowliest student to the loftiest transplant surgeon" brought films for deciphering. Now? Game changing technology has created powerful new functionality that has some wondering if radiologists have not been turned into “disembodied functionaries, more akin to servicing technicians than professional colleagues.”
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4. Advanced Prenatal Testing Means More Gut-Wrenching Decisions Over Abortion
From "The Gene Machine," by Bonnie Rochman
Advanced prenatal genetic testing has transformed every fetus into an "at risk" entity, says Rochman. "While there are women who’d never opt for an abortion, it’s disingenuous to ignore the fact that terminating a pregnancy is one possible outcome of earlier, more sophisticated genetic tests. The issue of how people feel about disability and, in turn, how that impacts their decisions regarding abortion is an essential aspect of any discussion about advances in prenatal testing."
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More excerpts from Future of You:
- Will Computers Ever Be as Good as Physicians at Diagnosing Patients? from “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age," by Bob Wachter
- The Ethics of Withholding Lifesaving Treatment, from “Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions,” by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
- Taking Tylenol for Heartache: The Relationship Between Emotional and Physical Pain, from "We Have the Technology: How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists are Transforming Human Perception, One Sense at a Time," by Kara Platoni
- The Online Life, as Both Liberation and Imprisonment, from "The Four-Dimensional Human," by Laurence Scott
- How the Media Came to Embrace Clickbait: An Internet History, from "The Attention Merchants," by Tim Wu
