According to a longtime Silicon Valley reporter, technology is so pervasive and invasive that it polarizes people, creating a love for and hate for tech devices, online services, and the visionaries behind them. It is said that it creates a feeling.
Kara Swisher reveals how we got to this point in her incendiary memoir, Burn Book, released Tuesday. This tell-all book also aims to avoid technological disasters on the treacherous road ahead.
When we met them decades ago as entrepreneurs, Swisher was a once-idealist who promised to change the world for the better but instead often chose a path of destructive destruction. He has skewered many of the biggest names in the technology world. And in the process, they amassed incredible wealth that is disconnected from reality.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who broke out in a sweat during an on-stage interview with Swisher in 2010, once spoke to Swisher regularly, but they have not been in touch since he acquired Twitter in 2022. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who lost his job, is being painted in the harshest light. .
“If Mark Zuckerberg was my most toxic figure in the tech industry, Musk was the most disappointing,” Swisher wrote in his 300-page book.
It's one of the softest of mostly scathing criticisms from one of the most respected and feared reporters in technology. Her reputation is so strong that since she began covering her industry in the 1990s, Swisher has become as synonymous with Silicon Valley as the famous entrepreneurs who shaped it.
According to her book, CEOs including Zuckerberg and Musk regularly gave her exclusive interviews, provided scoops, and sometimes secretly called her to ask for advice. That's what it means. When an episode of the HBO series “Silicon Valley” needed someone to play an influential reporter, Swisher was cast as herself. She still holds a regular role as a technology commentator on major television networks.
Mr. Swisher no longer lives in Silicon Valley. She moved to Washington DC a few years ago. Mainly because her wife works there, but also because she felt the need to escape an environment that had become increasingly toxic and insular for her.
But she's concerned about what's happening in technology, particularly the accelerating rise of artificial intelligence and the potential for even greater damage than she thinks is already being caused by social media, smartphones and other products. I remain concerned about the possibilities. Not strictly regulated.
Swisher told The Associated Press that he hopes “Burn Book” will be a shot in the arm at both the technology industry and governments around the world, and he hopes that “Burn Book” will be a shot in the arm for both the technology industry and governments around the world, and that it's similar to what has happened over the past two decades with the rise of artificial intelligence. He said he warned them not to repeat the same mistake. to every corner of society.
“Don't let yourself be fooled again,” Ms. Swisher said of what she hopes will be the main lesson of the book. “We need the government to hold these[tech industry]people accountable, and that's not happening. We need them to understand the consequences. Regarding the harmful parts of technology. We have to stop leaving them alone because they are certainly not doing us the right thing.”
Swisher didn't even have any intention of writing another book at first. One of the reasons he pivoted was because he became interested in focusing on podcasting. But after hiring Nell Scovell, who co-wrote a best-selling book with former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, to help her remember all the stories she's accumulated, she finally gets back on track. Became.
These memories inspired her to dismantle some of the world's richest people in her book, but Swisher isn't worried about the backlash.
“I don’t care what they think,” Swisher said. “The last thing I do is tell people what I think, but I'm honest.”
According to her book, Musk, who also runs rocket ship maker SpaceX and social media company It is said that he used a derogatory term.
