Street roots., September 22, 2017, Page 8, Image 8

P ag e 8
BY EMILY GREEN
STAFF WRITER
News
S tre e t R oots • S eptem ber 22-28, 2017
News
P ag e 9
"These companies
have created a
marketplace that
everyone can access,
but they have
enormous ability
to pick winners
and losers in that
marketplace, and
if they themselves
are competing in
it, they have every
incentive to make
themselves the winner
at the expense of other
players."
The domination
of big tech
hen Facebook co-founder Chris
Hughes purchased the New
Republic in 2012, he brought back
the magazine’s esteemed former editor,
Franklin Foer, to help re-create the
century-old publication.
What had begun as an electrifying
collaboration between Hughes and Foer
soon burned out. Foer became
disillusioned under Hughes’ ownership as
he found himself at the mercy of
Chartbeat, which provides the sort of tools
many newsrooms have come to rely on to
track real-time Web traffic. Where
journalistic pursuits were once free from
readers’ whims, those whims now took
priority.
When Foer discovered Hughes had hired
his replacement, he resigned, prompting a
mass exodus from New Republic’s
stems from their belief in singularity. It’s,
newsroom.
“this idea that they’re creating machines
To Foer, big tech’s remolding of the
that will then become smarter than
media landscape is emblematic of all the
humans, and that we’re going to accelerate
ways in which it seeks to guide our thought
into some entire new realm of human
processes, erode our free will and control
existence where our brains are uploaded
our lives - all while existing outside of the
into the ether and we are able to achieve a
rules that have traditionally governed the
state of immortality after we fully merge
American marketplace.
with machines,” Foer said. “There is a
He contends against our acceptance of
profound hubris that haunts these
the near-monopoly statuses that companies
companies. And that’s a really unnerving
such as Amazon, Facebook and Google
thing to watch given their actual power in
(restructured as Alphabet Inc.) have come
the world.”
to enjoy under the false pretense they are
Early on, his book makes bold assertions
neutral necessities, governed by
of how these ideologies are already having
mathematics and algorithms rather than
a profound effect.
human biases.
“The tech companies are destroying
But these behemoths have penetrated
something precious, which is the possibility
our lives, becoming platforms that we can’t
of contemplation,” Foer argues in his
seem to resist revisiting over and over
prologue. “They have created a world in
again.
which we’re constantly watched and always
“I don’t mind having a phone that can
distracted. Through their accumulation of
help me navigate where I want to go,” Foer
data, they have constructed a portrait of
said. “But I feel like we’re in a period that’s
our minds, which they use to invisibly guide
a prelude to much more profound change.”
mass behavior (and increasingly individual
Foer fears that change will cost us
behavior) to further their financial
faculties that humanity has valued for most
interests.”
of its existence.
Foer spoke with Street Roots from
But to understand what’s at stake, one
Washington, D.C., in advance of his
must first understand the men behind the
appearance at Powell’s City of Books at
companies driving us into what Foer sees
7:30 p.m. Thursday, S ept 28. He will give a
as a dystopian future.
reading, sign books and lead a discussion.
In his new book, “World Without Mind:
“World Without Mind” begs notice at a
The Existential Threat of Big Tech,” Foer,
time when big tech is rapidly transforming
lays out the origins of tech giants such as
our world, and Foer’s gripping narrative
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and
reveals just cause for alarm.
Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page,
One tech giant it delves into is Amazon.
revealing the ideologies that drive them •
Amazon and its founder, Bezos, have
and goals that extend far beyond market
amassed a vast business empire that
domination and to a reinvention of the
encompasses publishing, film production,
world as we know it.
manufacturing, grocery stores, a slew of
One lofty goal some hold, he explained,
W
S tre e t R oots • Septem ber 22-28, 2017
Author Franklin Foer warns against a
world in which companies such as Google,
Amazon and Facebook have eroded our
thought processes and command our lives
FRANKLIN FOER
PHOTO BY E\ZY MAGES
gives them even further dominance,ibBoer. j
e-commerce and online platforms, ¡as.well
as news organizations including The
said.
Washington Post, among numerous other
But on the plus side, Amazon’s
fulfillment centers will bring Oregon
endeavors and investments. Now, Amazon
is vastly expanding its Oregon footprint.
thousands of jobs.
“The jobs argument is,
Amazon recently
announced plans to build
to me, not the best given
three Oregon fulfillment
the fact that a lot of these
centers: one in Salem,
jobs are just so low quality.
with a property tax break
They are so mechanical
and robotic,” Foer said.
of $3.6 million; one in
A quick query of
Troutdale, with a tax
TKF EXISTENTIAL
break of $9,6 million;
current Amazon job
openings at its warehouses
and another in North
in Hillsboro and Portland
Portland, which will
revealed only part-time
likely come with a real
positions are available,
estate tax waiver for up
with pay ranging from
to five years and an
e-commerce tax credit
$12.25 to $13.50 per hour.
for as much as $2 million
In the Portland metro
per year, The Oregonian
region, to afford a two-
bedroom apartment, a
reported.
FfifR
person must work full
Foer makes clear that
time, earning at least $23
tax avoidance is in large
COURTESY OF PENGUIN PRESS
an hour, according to the
part what makes Amazon
National Low Income
competitive. While large
Housing Coalition.
corporations aren’t known for paying their
Work requirements listed for Amazon’s
fair share in taxes, compared with Amazon
and Google, even big box stores seem to be
open positions include an ability to work in
paying reasonable sums. Foer points out
sub-32-degree and above-90-degree
that while Walmart coughs up 30 percent of temperatures; ability to work nights,
weekends and holidays; ability to lift up to
its income in taxes and Home Depot 38
49 pounds; ability to stand/walk for up to
percent, Amazon has averaged an effective
tax rate of just 13 percent, while Apple and
12 hours; and willingness to work extra
Google paid 16 percent.
hours as required.
“What pisses me off so much about it is
While no health or dental insurance is
you have a company that is already the
offered to part-time employees, select
biggest, and that’s already the most
positions are eligible for life insurance and
powerful in so many different markets, and
accidental death and dismemberment
insurance.
they are able to leverage that power to
further exploit the state, which in turn
However, Amazon has promised
thousands of full-time, positions at its new- j
fulfillment centers in Oregon, which would
come with full benefits and the company’s
tuition assistance program, which pays up
to $12,000 in textbooks and tuition costs
over four years for students earning
degrees in high-demand technical fields.
But just how long all those full-time jobs
will last may be a matter of how fa s t.
technology advances.
“Amazon wants to replace human beings
with robots in these fulfillment centers
eventually,” Foer said. “And ‘eventually’
isn’t so far off in the future. It could
happen relatively quickly. They are making
pretty big advances here, and so everybody
is laying out in order to try to attract
Amazon, but it’s a devil’s bargain, and it’s
not going to trickle down to the benefit of
the public. It’s going to end up ripping off
the public.”
Foer said the tendency is to view
Amazon as a neutral marketplace where
anybody can sell their wares, but in his
book, he points out: “Companies that
manufacture tchotchkes sold on Amazon
watch their businesses collapse when
Amazon’s algorithms detect the
profitability of their item, leading the giant
to manufacture the goods itself at a lower
price.”
Last year ProPublica reporters
discovered Amazon makes its own
products appear as better deals than other
similar products sold on its platform.
Google is no different. Foer said that
while people often think of Google as a
neutral search engine based on math and
science, serving as our portal to the world,
it also uses its position as an uftfair market
advantage.
“Once upon a time, if you wanted to go
identities- for yourself is an example of a
look for a restaurant, you would type it in
lack of integrity.” Zuckerberg was talking
and a Yelp review would come up first, but
about how many people have different
then Google realized that Yelp was an
personas depending on who they are
awesome business,” Foer said. “Now, if
interacting with, either at school, at home
you type in a restaurant name, it’s the
or at work. But now we share the same
Google review and
words and viewpoints with
information that comes up
our co-workers, friends and
IFYOUGO
first - and that’s the
family simultaneously on
What: Franklin Foer
problem. These companies
social media. It’s an example
have created a marketplace
‘World Without Mind”
of how one man’s armchair
that everyone can access,
philosophizing has been
Book signing and
but they have enormous
exerted onto the masses.
discussion
ability to pick winners and
“A lot of the messianic
When: 7:30 p.m.
losers in that marketplace,
aspirations of these
Thursday, Sept. 2&
and if they themselves are
companies are things to be
competing in it, they have
taken seriously, and th at part
Where: Powell's City of
every incentive to make
of their ethos is not just that
Books, 1005 W Burnside
themselves the winner at
they’re trying to gobble up a
St., Portland
the expense of other
market; they are sincerely
players.”
trying to remake the world.
We asked Foer if it was
And I think that sincere
possible that Google is simply trying to
ambition is part of what makes them so
make the world a better place - after all,
dangerous,” Foer said.
its former, unofficial code of conduct was,
“One of the dangers is that if machines
“Don’t be evil.”
become so deeply implanted in our mental
“These guys are messing around with
activities, there’s an extent to which we as
really profound things,” Foer said. “They
humans cease to have control over our
want to complete this merger between
own thought processes, and you don’t even
man and machine. They want to remake
have to believe in an extreme sci-fi version
and reinvent everything. Sometimes it’s
of this to be freaking right now. I think we
good to be a revolutionary, but sometimes
can just look at the question of privacy,”
revolutions end up exploding things that
he said. “Most people, if you ask them,
we hold near and dear, and there’s no
would say they want privacy, they believe
getting them back. That’s really one of my
in privacy, but I don’t think people
biggest concerns about these companies -
necessarily understand the core value of
that they are trying to rush forward into
privacy and why it’s so important. We want
this glorious future without really thinking
to protect certain things from exposure;
hard about what they’re doing.”
it’s also that we need privacy in order to
In his book, Foer quotes Mark
be thoughtful people. When we’re
Zuckerberg as saying, “Having two
watched, we’re not able to really think for
ourselves. We inevitably try to please the
person who is watching us - or try not to
offend the person who is watching us. In
order to be really thoughtful individuals -
we’re going to have our own opinions
about the world - we need spaces where
eyes aren’t gazing upon us.”
Foer warns that we’re already
manipulated in ways many people might
not realize, and with serious
consequences.
“That’s kind of a lesson from this last
election,” he said. “Most people who use
Facebook have zero idea that information
is being organized for them, and there are
algorithms that are sorting information,
giving priority to certain things over
others. It makes people a bit credulous
when it comes to reading on Facebook.
It’s just a system that’s open to just a
huge amount of manipulation, and the
Russians understood this so they jumped
right in. I think that’s already happened.
More broadly, I feel like we’re already a
little cyborged. We offload so many mental
functions onto our phones.”
While there are currently no laws
governing data in the United States,
Europe has approved the creation of a
General Data Protection Regulation.
Beginning in May, it will have the authority
to fine giant tech companies up to 20
million euros ($23.9 million).
Although many European countries
already have Data Protection Authorities,
their fines currently lack the teeth needed
to sting companies as large as Google and
Aipazon. For example, on Sept. 11, Spain’s
data authority fined Facebook $1.44
million for the way it uses people’s
personal data for advertising purposes,
saying it violates privacy laws. To a
company worth more than $500 billion,
that barely amounts to pocket change.
In “World Without Mind,” Foer argues
for the need to establish a Data Protection
Authority in the United States. He says we
need to decide if platforms such as Google
and Amazon should be regulated like
utilities or broken up. But, Foer said, our
existing legal framework doesn’t really
apply to these new sorts of enterprises.
He points to a paper written by Lina
Khan, an associate research scholar at Yale
Law School.
Khan argued that because Amazon
positioned itself at the center of
e-commerce by choosing expansion over
profit - it’s pricing is notoriously low - it
has escaped antitrust scrutiny.
Khan concluded: “Amazon’s business
strategies and current market dominance
See BIG TECH, page 11
<
>
«