Devil in the stack A code odyssey

Review by Booklist Review

Many of us have a sense that modern technology, especially social media, is damaging human society and relationships. Smith was curious to understand if that's true and, if so, why. Here, he takes a deep dive into the culture of computer coders: he learned to code, attended coding conferences, and interviewed some of the most eminent persons of the coding world. Along the way, he offers a course in the history of the creation and development of computers and code, a necessary context to understand how we got to where we are today. He explores the nature of coding itself: is it more math or language, science or art, and how do human brains process it? He also calls our attention to the divisive, often counterintuitive history of diversity in tech. Smith believes modern technology is doing harm to society and ultimately suggests a well-reasoned argument for why, with suggestions to address the damage. But technology also offers tremendous potential to do good, and much of the culture around tech is deep with creativity, imagination, and hope. The Devil in the Stack is a humane, nuanced, humorous, insightful work and a much-needed call for greater due diligence around some of the most impactful innovations in human history.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This trenchant report from journalist Smith (Totally Wired) explores how coding is transforming the world. Smith recounts learning to code, touring Google's campus, attending a conference for enthusiasts of the Python programming language, and interviewing myriad programmers and computer scientists to better understand the downstream effects of entrusting the construction of society's digital architecture to coders, a group composed "overwhelmingly white and Asian men." The balanced assessment finds that for every Quincy Larson, who created a free online coding boot camp to diversify the field, there's someone like the libertarian Google employee Smith met at a conference whose tendency to abstract moral issues led him to believe unhoused people deserve to live on the streets for failing to make use of allegedly abundant economic opportunities. The nuanced conclusion Smith draws from his conversations is that coding depends on abstraction; "files are abstractions for bytes on a disc" that are themselves packaged and abstracted by additional layers of code. In a sophisticated analysis that would make Marshall McLuhan proud, Smith posits that such abstractions alienate users and coders from the consequences of their online actions, suggesting, for instance, that social media companies are inured to the harms they cause because the intricate workings of their self-learning algorithms are opaque even to those who create them. A searing philosophical take on the ravages of the digital age, this is a must-read. (Aug.)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

How algorithmic code works and what it means for our future. As Smith, author ofMoondust andTotally Wired, explains, computer code operates according to a "haunting alien logic" that grants extraordinary--and, in some ways, frightening--powers. The author tracks the history of coding from early computing pioneers to contemporary innovators in machine learning, while also documenting his own attempts to learn coding language as a means of understanding how our virtual worlds are being constructed. Smith provides refreshingly accessible accounts of the theoretical contributions to the field made by such early luminaries as Ada Lovelace, George Boole, John von Neumann, and Alan Turing and of the coding cultures that currently exist at high-tech companies around the globe. The author gives readers a vivid sense of the potential of new developments in AI, as well as the forbidding threats to privacy and human autonomy posed by the systems. The book also includes insightful commentary on the psychological impact of immersing oneself in the abstractions of code and on the workplace dynamics that fuel a rather ruthless and antisocial mode of innovation. There is, the author makes abundantly clear, a very real cost to relinquishing control of our lives to machines and machine logic. Smith dedicates the book to "those who would move slow and fix things," and he presents his work as a guide to both comprehending and appropriately resisting the emergence of toxic forms of digital mediation. The author concludes that activism on this front will require a concerted effort informed by the high stakes involved: "Big Tech pushback and lobbying against moderation of their power will be as intense as the motor and oil industries' decades-long war on climate science, and for the same reasons." An engaging plunge into the world of code and its transformative implications. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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