Rushkoff is a New York-based academic best known for his study of viral media and as a prominent commentator in the early days of cyber culture. In the 1990s, Rushkoff was full of excitement about the Internet: it was a social and strictly non-commercial space which, to him, felt like a more democratic means for sharing media than the printing press, radio, or television. However, these digital technologies came to accelerate our “dehumanisation”, Rushkoff now argues.

“Autonomous technologies, runaway markets and weaponised media seem to have overturned civil society, paralysing our ability to think constructively, connect meaningfully, or act purposefully,” Rushkoff declares at the opening of ‘Team Human’ (W.W. Norton, £14.99, ISBN 9780393651690). Perhaps the most powerful and devastating recent force in our dehumanisation is social media. Ruskoff argues that social media splits its users into “algorithmically defined silos”; perpetually interrupts us; prevents us from socialising; manipulates us into purchases, and presents divisive material (such as political memes) which appeals to instinctive fear and turns human against human. This is deliberately antihuman, Rushkoff argues; the algorithms are created to make us behave like predictable, well-defined and malleable machines.

We are all becoming aware of the damage inflicted by social media and other digital technologies and there is no shortage of commentators proposing solutions. Rushkoff dismisses the philosophies of transhumanism (which he sees as akin to giving up on being human) and “humane technology” (which at its best offers “humane” treatment of humans by machines). “We must learn that technology’s problems can’t always be solved with more technology”, he says.

Instead, Rushkoff calls on us to reject technology and capitalism as the core of our value system and instead to embrace humanity: “Human beings are not the problem. We are the solution,” he declares, calling for human values to retake centre stage, including in the design of new technologies.

‘Team Human’ is broken into 100 micro essays which run to approximately 250 pages in total. While this can mean jumping awkwardly between subjects and occasional diversions to peek at distracting and only tangentially related ideas – varying from the corporate appropriation of the New Age movement to Francis Bacon’s infamous rape analogy for the scientific method – this format makes ‘Team Human’ an accessible book which can easily be consumed in an evening or long train journey.

Rushkoff’s proposals are not radical or even original, but ‘Team Human’ presents such an effective argument that our lives are dominated by an antihuman agenda that the idea of putting human values first feels somewhat exhilarating. Is it really so radical to argue that if we stop buying so many smartphones, we wouldn’t have to enslave children to produce them, or that Facebook is a monopoly and should be turned into a public utility? Well, it shouldn’t be, but getting there feels almost impossible.

Readers are called on to join the real-world Team Human: to engage with their local communities and retrieve human-centred values. It is frustrating to be presented with such a devastating and difficult problem followed up with only vague solutions, although I presume that Rushkoff intends for us (Team Human) to take the reins from him at this point and make our own collective decisions about how to proceed.

‘Team Human’ presents a convincing central argument and sometimes delights,  particularly in Rushkoff’s roasting of the techno-solutionists who refuse to challenge antihuman values. Readers hoping to be presented with anything resembling a guide to restoring humanity, however, should adjust their expectations: this is a starting point. It’s a rousing starting point, though.

Rushkoff is a New York-based academic best known for his study of viral media and as a prominent commentator in the early days of cyber culture. In the 1990s, Rushkoff was full of excitement about the Internet: it was a social and strictly non-commercial space which, to him, felt like a more democratic means for sharing media than the printing press, radio, or television. However, these digital technologies came to accelerate our “dehumanisation”, Rushkoff now argues.

“Autonomous technologies, runaway markets and weaponised media seem to have overturned civil society, paralysing our ability to think constructively, connect meaningfully, or act purposefully,” Rushkoff declares at the opening of ‘Team Human’ (W.W. Norton, £14.99, ISBN 9780393651690). Perhaps the most powerful and devastating recent force in our dehumanisation is social media. Ruskoff argues that social media splits its users into “algorithmically defined silos”; perpetually interrupts us; prevents us from socialising; manipulates us into purchases, and presents divisive material (such as political memes) which appeals to instinctive fear and turns human against human. This is deliberately antihuman, Rushkoff argues; the algorithms are created to make us behave like predictable, well-defined and malleable machines.

We are all becoming aware of the damage inflicted by social media and other digital technologies and there is no shortage of commentators proposing solutions. Rushkoff dismisses the philosophies of transhumanism (which he sees as akin to giving up on being human) and “humane technology” (which at its best offers “humane” treatment of humans by machines). “We must learn that technology’s problems can’t always be solved with more technology”, he says.

Instead, Rushkoff calls on us to reject technology and capitalism as the core of our value system and instead to embrace humanity: “Human beings are not the problem. We are the solution,” he declares, calling for human values to retake centre stage, including in the design of new technologies.

‘Team Human’ is broken into 100 micro essays which run to approximately 250 pages in total. While this can mean jumping awkwardly between subjects and occasional diversions to peek at distracting and only tangentially related ideas – varying from the corporate appropriation of the New Age movement to Francis Bacon’s infamous rape analogy for the scientific method – this format makes ‘Team Human’ an accessible book which can easily be consumed in an evening or long train journey.

Rushkoff’s proposals are not radical or even original, but ‘Team Human’ presents such an effective argument that our lives are dominated by an antihuman agenda that the idea of putting human values first feels somewhat exhilarating. Is it really so radical to argue that if we stop buying so many smartphones, we wouldn’t have to enslave children to produce them, or that Facebook is a monopoly and should be turned into a public utility? Well, it shouldn’t be, but getting there feels almost impossible.

Readers are called on to join the real-world Team Human: to engage with their local communities and retrieve human-centred values. It is frustrating to be presented with such a devastating and difficult problem followed up with only vague solutions, although I presume that Rushkoff intends for us (Team Human) to take the reins from him at this point and make our own collective decisions about how to proceed.

‘Team Human’ presents a convincing central argument and sometimes delights,  particularly in Rushkoff’s roasting of the techno-solutionists who refuse to challenge antihuman values. Readers hoping to be presented with anything resembling a guide to restoring humanity, however, should adjust their expectations: this is a starting point. It’s a rousing starting point, though.