Overview

A rallying cry to fight the commodification of human attention, with the tools we need to reclaim our humanity, by a group of writers, artists, and activists in the vanguard of the movement We all feel it- something is seriously wrong. Our attention-that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world-is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold-and shaking the foundations of our democracy. To push back against this 'human fracking,\""'we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight. We meet welders, nurses, poets, and surfers, all of whom are engaged in attentional practices. We learn to seek out sanctuaries-theatres and museums, houses of worship, dance parties-where together we can take refuge from the frackers. Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! takes our apocalyptic present, turns it on its head, and reveals new vistas of human flourishing.

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9780241810965

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Reviews

Attensity! reminds us that how we attend to the world shapes what the world can be for us, and for one another. With a lively, even joyful blend of philosophical seriousness and practical imagination, it invites us to see attention not as a private asset to be hoarded but as a shared capacity to be cultivated and protected -- Kwame Anthony Appiah Attensity! is a thrilling declaration of independence from tech's tyranny over our human spirits. We feel the human and humane surge to renewed life through its call to each of us to reclaim ownership of our own attention, and of the actions we can cultivate with it—for ourselves and in our own names, instead of at the bidding of machines -- Danielle Allen * author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality *

Author Information

The Friends of Attention is a collective of activists, artists, and thinkers. D. Graham Burnett is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of history of science at Princeton University. Alyssa Loh, a filmmaker, co-directed the short film Twelve Theses on Attention. Peter Schmidt is the Programme Director of the Strother School of Radical Attention.

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