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Filterworld
- How Algorithms Flattened Culture
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's summary
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From New Yorker staff writer and author of The Longing for Less Kyle Chayka comes a timely history and investigation of a world ruled by algorithms, which determine the shape of culture itself.
"[Filterworld] is about how algorithms changed culture…[Chayka asks] what is taste? What is a sense of aesthetics? And what happens to it when it collides with the homogenizing digital reality in which we now live."—Ezra Klein
From trendy restaurants to city grids, to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round, algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices. The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes, be it in Nairobi or Portland, and the skeletal, modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small. Over the last decade, this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over, almost unnoticed—informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch—as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.
This ever-tightening web woven by algorithms is called “Filterworld.” Kyle Chayka shows us how online and offline spaces alike have been engineered for seamless consumption, becoming a source of pervasive anxiety in the process. Users of technology have been forced to contend with data-driven equations that try to anticipate their desires—and often get them wrong. What results is a state of docility that allows tech companies to curtail human experiences—human lives—for profit. But to have our tastes, behaviors, and emotions governed by computers, while convenient, does nothing short of call the very notion of free will into question.
In Filterworld, Chayka traces this creeping, machine-guided curation as it infiltrates the furthest reaches of our digital, physical, and psychological spaces. With algorithms increasingly influencing not just what culture we consume, but what culture is produced, urgent questions arise: What happens when shareability supersedes messiness, innovation, and creativity—the qualities that make us human? What does it mean to make a choice when the options have been so carefully arranged for us? Is personal freedom possible on the Internet?
To the last question, Filterworld argues yes—but to escape Filterworld, and even transcend it, we must first understand it.
Critic reviews
A Most Anticipated Book of 2024: Foreign Policy • Lit Hub • The Millions • i-D Magazine • Town and Country • Elle Magazine
“Necessary reading for anyone who has wondered just how, in expanding our world, the internet has ended up emptying our experience of it. Chayka's wide-ranging anatomy of algorithmic curation—which, he argues, is increasingly the cultural substitute for human choice itself—makes a bracing case not only for creativity exercised beyond the confines of digital constriction, but also against the dehumanizing sameness algorithms have introduced into our societies and lives. Timely, erudite, important.” —Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Homeland Elegies
“Filterworld incisively diagnoses a problem that I've long felt but struggled to name and is the most convincing explanation I've encountered for why so many of our cultural products carry an uncanny whiff of familiarity. Amidst cheers for the death of the monoculture, Chayka offers a sharp and necessary counterpoint, demonstrating how mass culture, even as it diffuses into niche datastreams, trends toward a vacuous mean.” —Meghan O'Gieblyn, author of God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning
“Intriguing—and distressing. . . Chayka’s timely investigation shows how we can reject the algorithms of the digital era and reclaim our humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews *starred review*
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Audible Masterpiece
- By Phoenician on 09-10-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
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The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean
- By: M. Doreal
- Narrated by: John Marino
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The history of the tablets translated in the following book is strange and beyond the belief of modern scientists. Their antiquity is stupendous, dating back some 36,000 years. The writer is Thoth, an Atlantean Priest-King, who founded a colony in ancient Egypt after the sinking of the mother country. He was the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, erroneously attributed to Cheops. In it he incorporated his knowledge of the ancient wisdom and also securely secreted records and instruments of ancient Atlantis.
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Excellence...
- By Light Worker on 04-21-18
By: M. Doreal
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Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
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Curse of Riches
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Claire Prentice, Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
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How did the Wendels, one of New York’s most famous Gilded Age families, disappear from history? The Wendels built a fortune from New York real estate, and rubbed shoulders with the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Stuyvesants. But as the 19th century came to an end, the Wendel family tore itself apart. Following six years of painstaking archival research, Claire Prentice has prised open the door of the Wendels’ Fifth Avenue mansion—dubbed “the house of mystery” by the press—to reveal a fascinating and dysfunctional family imprisoned in a gilded cage.
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Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
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The Hidden History of the Boston Tea Party
- By: Adam Jortner, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Adam Jortner
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
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The history of the Boston Tea Party is a hidden one. Why? Since it was a clandestine operation, all sorts of rumors and legends grew up around the event—many collected decades after the American Revolution had ended. At its core, however, the night of December 16, 1773, when colonials dumped tea from British ships into Boston Harbor, was more than a fight over tea and taxes. It was a struggle over the very nature of democracy and self-governance.
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How nuanced this event actually was
- By Cody T. on 12-17-23
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The Pagan World
- Ancient Religions Before Christianity
- By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Hans-Friedrich Mueller
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
- By arnold e andersen md Dr Andersen on 03-28-20
By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, and others
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Helter Skelter
- The True Story of the Manson Murders
- By: Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
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Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
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Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
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Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
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In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
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Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
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Who Owns This Sentence?
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Copyright is everywhere. Your smartphone incorporates thousands of items of intellectual property. Someone owns the reproduction rights to photographs of your dining table. At this very moment, battles are raging over copyright in the output of artificial intelligence programs. Not only books but wallpaper, computer programs, pop songs, cartoon characters, snapshots, and cuddly toys are now deemed to be intellectual properties—making copyright a labyrinthine construction of laws with colorful and often baffling rationales covering almost all products of human creativity.
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Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world - and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made?
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The Problem of Immigration in a Slaveholding Republic
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Today the United States considers immigration a federal matter. Yet, despite America's reputation as a "nation of immigrants," the Constitution is silent on the admission, exclusion, and expulsion of foreigners. Before the Civil War, the federal government played virtually no role in regulating immigration. Offering an original interpretation of nineteenth-century America, The Problem of Immigration in a Slaveholding Republic argues that the existence, abolition, and legacies of slavery were central to the emergence of a national immigration policy.
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What listeners say about Filterworld
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Marla Orgeron
- 03-18-24
Here’s my ironic review
This book has a beautiful way of delivering some horrifying subject matter, namely, how algorithms have slowly removed our uniqueness, our sense of cultural and artistic “taste,” and displaced art for the sake of art.
Writing a review at all, means acknowledging the algorithm’s power over us, and it’s tendency to push books that get more likes and, well, reviews. Ironically? (looking at you, Alanis), my hope is that writing this review will inspire more of my friends to read it, and thereby, decide to remove themselves from algorithms 😇
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- Marat Parkhomovsky
- 05-05-24
One of the most important books of this time
Profound, inspiring and very important for understanding the current state of our culture. A must. Thanks (to the algorithm?) that made me discover it.
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- TM
- 02-07-24
Important Book for Our Times
Somewhat dry, but I think vital analysis of how social media platforms and their algorithms are changing (negatively) how we consume and create art, but also discusses other societal effects. If you are sick of SM, listen to this book and you’ll get a better understanding as to why, and what you can do about it.
Ironic that the narrator sounded like an AI. So robotic and unengaged from the material. Would have been better if read by the author.
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- Sarah F
- 02-12-24
Blowing my mind
This book reframed my understanding of how I interact online and I’ll be thinking of it and referring to it for many months to come!
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- Chase
- 03-28-24
Excellent
This book is excellent! Very thought provoking and one I will come back to. Strongly recommend.
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- Larry Mays
- 03-18-24
Digital revolution? Maybe.
I felt this beginning as a pretty depressing read, but the author, after carefully describing the cultural milieu we find ourselves immersed in, began to develop a way whereby we could extricate ourselves back to a real--and not manufactured--system of cultural evolution.
A lot depends, as always on the choices we make; informed, considered, and acted upon.
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- me
- 03-25-24
Thorough discussion, lots of anecdotes
The author muses on the effect of filtering in our modern technology environment. There are many interesting anecdotes, those some very niche-y. He argues for specialized Curation to prevent flattening and homogenization of media or content.
I would agree with him. I would’ve enjoyed a deeper into technical solutions, and given the publication date, more on the influence of AI.
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- LaurenGym
- 04-14-24
Thinking about it a lot during/after read
It mostly sticks because the topic is so relevant and present in daily life. I liked the structure. Some of the personal anecdotal parts took me out of it a little but I think it might be geared to make the book a good time capsule if read in the future.
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- christina hattler
- 02-17-24
The dire importance of acknowledging this problem
As a creative person it comes as a huge a relief to read this book and hear what I have been feeling instinctually for a while now laid out in such a concise and wonderful book. Will be recommending this to everyone. Thank you!
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- Shrewsie Shrew
- 02-24-24
The flattening
I picked this up after hearing Ezra Klein's interview with Chayka. There are some brilliant ideas in this book and a lot to ponder. In fact it may have motivated me to finally figure out how to use Audible's clip feature. I found it inspiring rather than depressing, Chayka's love of culture really comes through, as well as his love of the Internet as a way to find culture. I'm so glad that he discussed how fun the internet used to be, like the blog era and early social media. This is not an anti-technology book. Worth a read.
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