The “fakeness” in influencer marketing is only a symptom of a malaise that is present at all levels of society. The CXOs/thought leaders who use agencies to build a personal brand are exhibiting the same duplicity. The secondary consequences on society, thanks to AI driven media creation and consumption, are probably beyond our influence now!
The premise is excellent. Our consumption, sharing and creation of data could tell us a lot about our society and the evolution of our culture in different parts of the world. The problem is, the book is based solely on the authors’ experiments with datasets using Google Books Ngram Viewer. 30 million books digitized by Google. A lot of books, but still a small subset. The book doesn’t match the expectations set by the title, but is still an interesting read.
In the last few years, I have increasingly seen a couple of elements of Kerala’s culture being hijacked – movies and Onam. As a part of the audience that has a direct relationship with both, I wonder when cultural exchange moves to cultural appropriation.
I found this book a refreshing perspective, when compared to the other books that I have read on the subject. From the system of the brain and the construction of emotions to the subject of free will, there are a bunch of interesting lines of thought. The understanding of emotions, and our ability/inability to control them have implications on a lot of things from our own daily behaviour to how we deliver justice as a society. While the topics are complex, the book has an excellent narrative style and is very accessible.