In his best-selling book Cuckoo's Egg, astronomer and part-time computer scientist Clifford Stoll told of his pursuit and capture of a gang of German hackers. Now, he's back with a 230-page meditation on life in cyberspace. And his report is bleak.
Silicon Snake Oil is a loose collection of anecdotes and bon mots that illustrate his twin themes: too often we mistake information for knowledge, and cyberspace is no substitute for real-world sensation. Stoll argues that the speed of online discussion fosters flames rather than reasoned debate, that mastering the constantly changing skills required to use computers is time poorly spent, that the fancy text and graphics possible with computer publishing leads to a false and dangerous sense of professionalism, that our lives would probably be better if we tossed some of the newfangled contraptions.
Stoll says nothing that cultural critics such as Sven Birkerts and Neil Postman haven't said many times before, and more eloquently. But because Stoll really knows computers, from the frustration of Unix manuals to the intricacies of TCP/IP, his criticisms can get under your skin.
You want to tell him: "Yeah, but next year's version.�" and "Sure, but with all the time I save...." But after Stoll's fiftieth example of how computers force us to master technical minutiae at the expense of real learning, those replies seem less credible. This book is too relentlessly one-sided and too rambling to be read straight through, or to be entirely convincing. But when your eyes get blurry from staring at a computer screen, pick up this book and read a page at random. Then go outside with a clear conscience.
Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway by Clifford Stoll: US$22. Doubleday: +1 (212) 354 6500.
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