{"product_id":"the-internet-is-not-what-you-think-it-is-by-justin-e-h-smith","title":"'The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is' by Justin E. H. Smith","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"12\" data-end=\"156\"\u003eGreat if you want “something about the internet” but does not want another book written by a former Google employee who discovered society last Tuesday.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"12\" data-end=\"156\"\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"12\" data-end=\"54\"\u003eThe Internet Is Not What You Think It Is\u003c\/em\u003e by Justin E. H. Smith — philosopher, historian, and professional dampener of techno-utopian nonsense. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eHe has no patience for the TED Talk version of the web as liberation machine, but he also avoids the lazy moral panic version. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"158\" data-end=\"672\"\u003eA history of the internet that tracks it as the latest version of an old human fantasy — the dream of connection, total knowledge, disembodied thought, perfect transmission, mind without friction. Smith traces the internet through older technologies, scientific dreams, occult communication, natural networks, encyclopaedias, telegraphy, computation, and the long human desire to escape the meat-sack problem by becoming signal. The argument is less “the internet is bad” than “the internet is older, weirder, and more metaphysically loaded than we admit.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1228\" data-end=\"1522\"\u003eGood for readers of media theory, philosophy of technology, digital culture, internet criticism or any fans of cybernetics-adjacent thought. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1732\" data-end=\"1845\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrinceton University Press paperback, 2022. Good used condition. Light shelf\/handling wear; clean reading copy.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45172308574291,"sku":null,"price":16.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Yourparagraphtext-2026-06-03T124605.933.png?v=1780454808","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/the-internet-is-not-what-you-think-it-is-by-justin-e-h-smith","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}