Andrew Keen is a British-American entrepreneur, author, and technology critic known for his skepticism toward the utopian promises of the internet age. His 2007 book *The Cult of the Amateur* became a widely discussed critique of Web 2.0 culture. He contributed essays to The Weekly Standard examining the cultural and ethical implications of Google, user-generated content, and the rise of Web 2.0.
IT'S AMATEUR HOUR at the Super Bowl this year. On Sunday, 90 million television viewers on CBS will be subjected to commercials made by "You"--Time magazine's Person of The Year for 2006. Three Super Bowl XLI advertisers--Doritos, the National Football League, and Chevrolet--will all be running 30…
IS GOOGLE GOOD OR EVIL? In Silicon Valley, Google's moral code is a contentious issue. To its local boosters, Google can do no ill; but to critics on both the left and the right, Google epitomizes all the worst hubris, hypocrisy, and greed of the dot.com era.
IN HIS CLASSIC The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, Gustave Le Bon wrote:
THE ANCIENTS were good at resisting seduction. Odysseus fought the seductive song of the Sirens by having his men tie him to the mast of his ship as it sailed past the Siren's Isle. Socrates was so intent on protecting citizens from the seductive opinions of artists and writers, that he outlawed…