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Book Review: The Circle
The book's eponymous tech firm earns untold billions of dollars off the Unified Operating System, a portal through which virtually the entire world accesses the broader Web. The OS bans anonymous identities; all social information is posted out there for anyone to peruse; currencies such as Bitcoin have been discarded in favor of online banking accounts irrevocably linked to real identities. The Circle itself is headquartered in the Bay Area, on a playful campus that caters to its employees’ every material whim, so long as they're willing to work twenty-plus hours a day.
That the world would accept something like the Circle’s omnipresent software without debate, of course, is the most far-fetched of the book’s assumptions. But Eggers needs that exaggerated scenario to support his larger theme of how we’re slowly but surely letting our privacy slip away from us in exchange for digital baubles, and how online interactions—clicking "Likes," viewing posts—is an imperfect substitution for real life. As one of his characters (who acts as the doomed Voice of Reason) states early on:
“Judgments like ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ and ‘smiles’ and ‘frowns’ were limited to junior high. Someone would write a note and it would say, ‘Do you like unicorns and stickers?’ and you’d say, ‘Yeah, I like unicorns and stickers! Smile!’ That kind of thing. But now it’s not just junior high kids who do it, it’s everyone, and it seems to me sometimes that I’ve entered some inverted zone, some mirror world where the dorkiest shit in the world is completely dominant. The world has dorkified itself.”
The Circle’s employees, of course, have little problem with that world (until the end, of course, when another major character attempts to bring the whole system crashing down). Even if Eggers gets the technology wrong, in order to service his broader point, he perfectly nails the spirit of hubris and incessant self-congratulation that’s gripped many startups and tech behemoths in this era of easy VC money, huge app audiences, and massive acquisitions. That bit of software that makes all the world’s information easily accessible, he’s whispering in the background, is totally missing the point of what constitutes a real, lived-in existence.
In other words, The Circle isn’t much of a cautionary tale for the broader world, as no single commercial firm will ever (hopefully) eradicate our privacy to the degree that the company and its characters accomplish in the novel (although it’s clear that some tech giants will do their level best). But on another level, the text can still act as a cautionary tale to the current generation of developers and entrepreneurs” who think their software will effortlessly change the world for the better.
You can purchase The Circle from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews (sci-fi included) — to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
lovely book if you arent a googlophile or a facebookhead
If I have to read that again, I'm heading for the closest bridge at high speed.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
That sounds like, you know, like, a totally common real life thing. Like.
Isn't that the modern startup culture anyway?
Sharing content with people online is a poor substitute for having real-life experiences with, like, kayaking and family gatherings and drinking and stuff.
Or put another way, my online friends are somehow "less real" than your friends, is that it? It really irks me every time I hear someone express such a sentiment, so hopefully I'm just negatively biased to interpreting it that way, and the author really did not mean it the way I interpreted it.
"1) Sharing content with people online is a poor substitute for having real-life experiences with, like, kayaking and family gatherings and drinking and stuff."
True, but I consider it to be like pornography: It may be a poor substitute for the real thing but it's there if you need it.
And for those who live in the country, social networking is an IMPROVEMENT over the old isolation.
"2) Unless stopped, companies that build social-networking tools will create increasingly intrusive software."
Duh.
"3) The only sure way to stay sane our increasingly interconnected (Eggers would say over-connected) world is to drive at high speed off a bridge."
Bullshit.
Sure, there are negative elements in the above. But see (1) for example. Yes, there are addicts who exclude the real world for electronic "social" life. But for a great many people, it is a vast improvement over earlier times. It all depends on how you use it. I use it for specific reasons and for specific purposes (and yes, this is one of them, for reasons of my own).
As for #2, it's what people like me have been saying for years. Does Dave Eggers think this is some kind of revelation or something?
And #3 is just nonsense. Unless you are the kind of person who has no control over her own decisions.
Agreed. My first reaction to that was "why don't you spend time with your friends that way if you want and not tell us how to spend ours."
"In other words, The Circle isnâ(TM)t much of a cautionary tale for the broader world"
No, the review makes it sound more like a tale deliberately written not so much as a cautionary one as a semi-political screed designed mostly to vent their authors opinions while appealing to certain tinfoil hat crowd.
"1) Sharing content with people online is a poor substitute for having real-life experiences with, like, kayaking and family gatherings and drinking and stuff."
Is this sponsored content from the booze industry?
The booze industry puts massive efforts into making booze "cool". "Alcohol marketing can shape culture by creating and sustaining expectations and norms about how to achieve social, sporting or sexual success". It's not just commercials. There are discounts for areas near prestigious schools.
90% of the parties I attend have been set up by someone on Facebook. If it wasn't for Facebook, I'd miss nine out of ten parties my friends were throwing. (As opposed to the half I miss now due to conflicting obligations or not feeling like going.)
While the dire warnings in the book have some merit, we should also recognize that there are legitimate tools and uses in our social media and not discount it wholesale. (I always call Facebook the junk food of the Internet. Even junk food can have a few fortified vitamins tossed in there.)
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Like, I like, totally like think you like, missed his point.
Like.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
I don't need a bridge to drive into - I just avoid all this stuff and I'm perfectly happy. No pop culture, no DRM or walled gardens, no social media. I don't think life is any the worse for ignoring all that.
Thank you. I'm going to buy a copy of Dave Smegger's Circle Jerk right now!
Erm, and his book is a bumbling and ill-formed satire on the invasive, monolithic beast he imagines the tech industry to be. Yep.
Drove straight off bridge immediately after reading this review at highest speed possible. Would do so again without hesitation if sanity required it. Also might actually read the book, IF I CAN TEAR MYSELF AWAY FROM FACEBOOK FOR 5 oh nevermind.
You can't learn "lessons" from a fictional story because it doesn't actually reflect reality; it reflects the fears and opinions of its author.
If you read a book written by a Luddite, you can't "learn the lesson that technology is bad", you simply acquire his prejudices and fears.
who think their software will effortlessly change the world for the better.
And there's your source of hubris.
Also a confict of interest when making million bucks from an IPO comes to view.
How did you manage to get all your buddies in the same room together?
By paying thousands of dollars per year for college.
And is there something preventing Facebook users from doing it?
Those who kept their Facebook accounts after graduation are not certain to have both the time and the money to go back for a master's.
"That the world would accept something like the Circle’s omnipresent software without debate, of course, is the most far-fetched of the book’s assumptions."
What?!? The world already has accepted something like the Circle. Those of us that don't use FB are very few and far between and get harangued as Luddites for not using it. To most of the twenty-somethings and younger, FB IS THE INTERNET.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Thats (ahem...) like totally ultra mega hella bitchin rad.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Your comment is excellent and your motive noble.
The difference you need to emphasize is between contact/acquaintance and friend.
"Loneliness is a crowded room" (Bryan Ferry). Describes a person with Facebook "friends". My advice: get real friends. That's the difference. Hint: virtual is NOT real.
Fuck Facebook, fuck Google, fuck all "social media", it's all bullshit and is ultimately used to invade your privacy; delete it all. People who claim to be your "friends" who won't be bothered to use other means to contact you weren't really your friends in the first place, so fuck them, too. Real friends will call you on the phone or at least send you an email.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Does anyone know where an Australian can acquire a DRM-free ebook of The Circle? Other than The Pirate Bay?