The Reality Game, Samuel Woolley
The Reality Game, Samuel Woolley
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The Reality Game
How the Next Wave of Technology Will Break the Truth

Author: Samuel Woolley

Narrator: Angelo Di Loreto

Unabridged: 7 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 01/07/2020

Synopsis

Fake news posts and Twitter trolls were just the beginning. What will happen when misinformation moves from our social media feeds into our everyday lives?
Online disinformation stormed our political process in 2016 and has only worsened since. Yet as Samuel Woolley shows in this urgent book, it may pale in comparison to what's to come: humanlike automated voice systems, machine learning, "deepfake" AI-edited videos and images, interactive memes, virtual reality, and more. These technologies have the power not just to manipulate our politics, but to make us doubt our eyes and ears and even feelings.
Deeply researched and compellingly written, The Reality Game describes the profound impact these technologies will have on our lives. Each new invention built without regard for its consequences edges us further into this digital dystopia.
Yet Woolley does not despair. Instead, he argues pointedly for a new culture of innovation, one built around accountability and especially transparency. With social media dragging us into a never-ending culture war, we must learn to stop fighting and instead prevent future manipulation. This book shows how we can use our new tools not to control people but to empower them.

About Samuel Woolley

Dr. Samuel C. Woolley is a writer and researcher specializing in the study of automation/AI, politics, persuasion and social media. He is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the founding director of the Digital Intelligence Lab at the Institute for the Future, a fifty-year-old think-tank based in the heart of Silicon Valley. Woolley is co-founder and former research director of the Computational Propaganda Project at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. He has written articles for Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Motherboard, TechCrunch and Slate, and been featured in publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal and on The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and BBC's News at Ten. Twitter: @samuelwoolley.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah on May 04, 2020

This book certainly has a lot of information about what kinds of things can be and are about to be possible to manipulate people’s perceptions of reality on the internet with bots, AI, machine learning , ‘deep fakes’ etc. It Explains in good detail what went on in the 2016 election. He makes the poi......more

Goodreads review by Moh. on September 28, 2020

Often driven by commercial motives, fake news effectively appeals to people’s desire to think critically. Old media helped to shore up faith in institutions; new media undermines it. The media landscape has changed beyond recognition. In the early days of the internet, many celebrated the eclipse of g......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on April 14, 2020

Reality is being manipulated on social media to alter our perception. 1. Bots target susceptible victims and spread fake news, such as pizza joint Child prostitution ring run by the Clintons. 2. Bots are mostly controlled by humans and not that smart. AI bots are not too smart and can be easily dete......more

Goodreads review by Brendan on February 29, 2020

I wonder if Goodreads has a major bot problem or not.. Regardless, this is a great yet time sensitive book. The sooner people read this the better. What this book is covering is happening now, especially with the 2020 elections continuously ramping up. Very well sourced and very insightful author.......more

Goodreads review by Donna on January 18, 2022

I found myself getting more and more aggravated towards the end of the book. The author succeeds - for about 3/4 of the book - at concealing his neoliberal bent. The last 1/4 might as well have been a love letter to facebook itself - one big "I can fix him" to corporations like facebook that think t......more

Quotes

"What makes 'The Reality Game' worth a read is Woolley's focus on the upcoming wave of new technologies; arguable deep fakes; virtual reality, and machine learning."—Engineering and Technology

"A well-informed cautionary tale on alarming issues that show no signs of abating as disinformation continues to proliferate."
—Kirkus Reviews

"While the rest of us have been processing our shock at the fake news crisis, Sam Woolley has been anticipating what's coming next. This a mind-blowing and essential book for a future that's practically already here, whether we know it or not. This book scares the hell out of me, but if we listen to Woolley's wake-up call, then I also have hope."—Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

Long before most of the world had ever heard the terms 'disinformation,' 'trolls,' 'bots,' or 'fake news,' Sam Woolley had begun to systematically study these new, destructive forces eroding democracy in the digital age. The Reality Game synthesizes his deep and original knowledge on this subject into a readable and compelling book. Scholars of computational propaganda, policymakers in Washington, Brussels, and the Silicon Valley, as well as all citizens of the world concerned about truth, facts, and democracy must read this book.—Michael McFaul, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and former US ambassador to Russia

"This is a crucial book for understanding online misinformation, disinformation, and outright propaganda. Like a good doctor, Sam Woolley has given us an excellent diagnosis of this problem and laid out a treatment plan. Now it's up to politicians and the public to heed his timely advice."—Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media

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