Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

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Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

by Douglas Rushkoff (Goodreads Author)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 477 ratings · 89 reviews

The debate over whether the Net is good or bad for us fills the airwaves and the blogosphere. But for all the heat of claim and counter-claim, the argument is essentially beside the point: it’s here; it’s everywhere. The real question is, do we direct technology, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those who have mastered it? “Choose the former,” writes Rushkoff,...more

Paperback, 152 pages

Published November 1st 2010 by OR Books

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Dec 12, 2011 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Rob by: Amy

Shelves: 2011, philosophy

Right from the first page, Douglas Rushkoff's book Program or Be Programmed reminded me of Nicholas Carr's, The Shallows [1] -- only with a broader scope and more buzzwords and a less gloomy appraisal of the subject. I read The Shallows last year, and though it was interesting, it was also overly dramatic, and was too timid in its speculations -- and thus it failed to draw fully-baked conclusions or make substantive predictions. We walk away with Carr's Neural Doomsday:

The price we pay to assum

...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Stephany rated it 2 of 5 stars

First, the good. Rushkoff makes important points, and I thought the best were made in the final chapter that bears the title of the book. Rushkoff breathes new life into the importance of controlling the means of production. Unlike other tools (the woodworking hand tools and knitting needles of which I am so very fond, for instance) software is programmed. Well, obviously. But this matters because programming is a process; the code we use in the form of software is the end result of a particular...more First, the good. Rushkoff makes important points, and I thought the best were made in the final chapter that bears the title of the book. Rushkoff breathes new life into the importance of controlling the means of production. Unlike other tools (the woodworking hand tools and knitting needles of which I am so very fond, for instance) software is programmed. Well, obviously. But this matters because programming is a process; the code we use in the form of software is the end result of a particular sequence of logic, a pattern of thinking that we follow without even realizing it and, unlike other tools, patterns that most of us cannot modify. There's a lot of conformity in an environment that gives us the illusion of choice and independence.

I appreciate the fact that Rushkoff is one of the few voices pointing out that knowing how to use Facebook or send text messages is NOT digital literacy. If you don't know how to write code, you're not digitally literate. Rushkoff makes this point through strong stories. Here's an excerpt of one of them:

"One of the US Air Force generals charged with building and protecting the Global Information Grid has a problem: recruitment. As the man in charge of many of the Air Force’s coolest computer toys, he has no problem attracting kids who want to ﬂy drones, shoot lasers from satellites, or steer missiles into Persian Gulf terrorist camps from the safety of Shreveport. They’re lining up for those assignments. No, the general’s challenge is ﬁnding kids capable of programming these weapons systems—or even having the education, inclination, and mental discipline required to begin learning programming from scratch."

The chapter titled "You Are Never Completely Right" is another strong one. I think never being completely right is a wonderful thing, but Rushkoff points out how it can result in a reduction of complexity. The desire for a reduction of complexity is in evidence in U.S. culture, the "I'll believe what I want to believe, evidence be damned, because there's so much evidence on all sides I'll just pick the one I like."

The book also contains more common things we hear a lot of. Rushkoff says to not be always on, to be more present rather than always reporting on what we're doing rather than experiencing it more fully. We've heard this before and Rushkoff doesn't bring a fresh perspective to it.

I don't agree with everything he's written (wouldn't life be boring if I did?!), but I'm glad he's written it. Rushkoff's provocative style does what I imagine it's intended to do: provoke critical thinking. They style is, however, sometimes needlessly alarmist. (less)

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Dec 20, 2010 Tamas Kalman rated it 4 of 5 stars

A thought-provoking starting with a much more conservative approach as a resolution. I'd love to see more futuristic and modern approaches to resolve the challenges which are segmented in this book instead of trying to eliminate these problems which in my eyes aren't really problems but challenges and options which we can adapt and use for our own development and purposes. Although this book can be useful for anyone who is new to these subjects and might be even inspirational.

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Dec 09, 2010 Sean Murnin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Program or Be Programmed has changed my mind about the internet of 2010. It use to be that we'd have to go to work or the library to access our personal email and newsgroups. We were not always plugged in or have to be, it was not even an option. Rushkoff's winning argument is the internet was more fun and manageable back 10-20 years ago, i agree. It seems the particular people who would tend to read this book are relatively safe from being victimized, overgamed and overmarketed to, compared wit...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

In this book Douglas Rushkoff not only discusses what it means to be a participant in this new, fast-paced digital world, but he also outlines ten rules (or "commandments" as he calls them) for for us to use so we don't get swept off our feet in media streams. Rushkoff takes his time delving into the possible repercussions of Time, Place, Choice, Complexity, Scale, Identity, Social, Fact, Openness, and Purpose.

Rushkoff begins his chapter by defining what he calls the "computer biases" concerning...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Kami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: essential-socially-aware-reading, research

This is a great and not-too-weighty book encapsulating a topic I consider particularly important: the need for us to understand the inner workings of our computers, at least deeply enough that we can use them to create our own computer-driven tools instead of relying on the tools that others build.

Rushkoff coherently points out how our brains and lives are changed by the tools and paradigms that we develop. He also shows the sequence of examples from our history of paradigm-shifting inventions t...more This is a great and not-too-weighty book encapsulating a topic I consider particularly important: the need for us to understand the inner workings of our computers, at least deeply enough that we can use them to create our own computer-driven tools instead of relying on the tools that others build.

Rushkoff coherently points out how our brains and lives are changed by the tools and paradigms that we develop. He also shows the sequence of examples from our history of paradigm-shifting inventions that have been taken on only by a privileged, power-hungry few - and how this has enabled them to control those not equipped with full control over the new paradigm. But computers, Rushkoff reminds us - not that we should need to be told this if we ever stop and look around our iPhone-obsessed world - are a much more serious issue, and will permanently shape the potential of our species.

I was figuratively nodding throughout the whole book except for a few parts. While I agree that content creators should feel entitled to compensation for their work, particularly if it is valued by many, I don't agree with the use of the word 'stealing' to refer to 'piracy'. Although I agree with Rushkoff's eventual points about needing to confirm paying for content as an appropriate thing to do, I'm not cool with piracy being equated to a violent crime, even in passing. I was also surprised that, especially given the topic of the book, the assertion 'open-source Linux is more secure than closed-source Windows' was allowed to stand. This may well be true - if, as is the point the whole book is driving towards in its convenient Ten Commandments-style, the Linux user actually understands the operating system well enough. An amateur is equally at the mercy of a more knowledgeable and determined assailant using either operating system, because they will not know how to configure their system to protect it if they are specifically targeted, or may configure things so as to introduce vulnerabilities.

My issues aside, this is worth reading, not least because of the excellent reading list provided at the end of the book that will probably keep me hunting out computing theory books for the rest of the year if not longer.(less)

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Nov 07, 2011 Psuke rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love the brevity of this little book...and aside from the bit on "be who you are" (the anonymous/pseudonymous debate has been *done to death* so I won't add to it here) I agreed with the opinions expressed. Similar is tone to Jaron's "You Are Not a Gadget", I liked this better both a) for it's brevity and b) because it offered more solutions than explanations. I don't need an anti-online/anti-computer argument - it's preaching to the choir in my case - so the suggestions and pieces of advice w...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Dani rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: forced-to-read, awful, genre-nonfiction, year-2011-reads

First of all, I had to read this book for a communications course and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, so perhaps I was already biased. (I did love the course, though, so maybe that evens it out? Oh well, irrelevant.)

Overall, I thought that Rushkoff made his point in each chapter within just a few sentences, and the rest was all just fluff. He seemed to write the same things over and over again, just using different words. The book wasn't long by any means, but it definitely could have been much...more

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Donald Futers How do star systems work for you, then? If indifference deserves 1 star, where do you place things you actively disliked? Do you start with 4 and 5 fo...more
Jun 20, 2012 06:01am

Dani Eh, I usually just go by gut feelings as far as star ratings go. I generally stick to the Goodreads system (1-didn't like it, 2-it was ok, 3-liked it,...more
Jun 20, 2012 10:35pm

Dani Wow, sorry that was so long - didn't realize how much I'd written! Also, I apologize for not making myself clear in my original review.
Jun 20, 2012 10:36pm

Apr 02, 2011 Cori rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, technology

I'm not sure what I expected of this book, but it was less technical then I thought it was going to be. It is a quick read with a number of thoughtful anecdotes. Some of the "commands" seemed like etiquette lessons for a digital age, but overall I thought the book was insightful.

I found the last two commands, Openness and Purpose, the most interesting. If his motivation for writing this book was to spark more of an interest in programming he has succeeded with me!

One of his strongest points was...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Marc Weidenbaum added it

This book definitely makes more sense when read alongside the recent ones by Kevin Kelly and by Jaron Lanier. Like them, it's something of a correction on the tech-evangelism that has marked much of its author's earlier works. If Lanier's is a rangy diatribe, and Kelly's a concertedly developed argument, Rushkoff's is a list: it's 10 ideas, laid out plainly for a common reader. The last of these 10 ideas ("commands," a joke on the 10 commandments), the one from which the book takes its title, is...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Leo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011

Rushkoff offers an interesting perspective; the idea that our technologies have built-in biases, what Rushkoff alternately calls agendas, as surely as the human brain evolved to favor Type I errors. In *Program or be Programmed* he provides short essays on what he perceives as the ten most important of these biases in computing technologies and the steps we can take to mitigate their influence.

Overall there is very little objectionable to Rushkoff's thesis, although some of his supporting examp...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Kim Pallister rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I headed into Douglas Rushkoff's book expecting it to like it. I've read some of his writing and find I agree with some of his major ideas. As the title of the book implies, it centers around the idea that the more of our lives we place in the hands of technology, the more important it is that we understand how the underlying tech works, and if necessary, be capable of changing it.

However, I was quite disappointed with the book. While some of his ideas are along the right lines, he sort of circl...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Bryce rated it 5 of 5 stars

A colleague recommended this book right before the holidays and I got a copy from the library and just finished reading it a few days ago. This should be mandatory reading for everyone living in the modern age. It is instructive, cautionary and inspiring. Not to mention an engaging and fast read!

In a series of ten concise chapters, each on a different them of technology and our relationship to it, Douglas Rushkoff provides a very compelling work that is equal parts Strunk & White and revolut...more

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Oct 23, 2010 Measie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Highly recommended. A quick read, but thought-provoking.

I bought this book partially because I was interested in the way it was published. The author deliberately chose to publish with a small, independent publisher and to sell the book through the publisher's website only. He promoted it through Boing Boing and other sites. The price was a bit steep for such a small book, but I was happy to know that more of the money was going to the creator and an independent business, rather than a big corp...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Frank Palardy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some of his basic ideas are fair enough, but then he rambles on. I have a degree in film theory and also computer science. He covers all media, which is way too broad. The whole notion that programming television is the same as programming a computer is wrong. They are both programming but they're not the same. Everything he says about computers is wrong. Computers exist in real time. Other than storage media everything is in real time. What he says about that is backwards. Computers tick like a...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Gary Schroeder rated it 4 of 5 stars

Worried about the effect that ever expanding information technologies are having on global culture, our personal lives and how we interact with one another? Well, Douglas Rushkoff is (and if you’re not, you either haven’t been paying attention or you’re too young to remember the pre-internet world). “Program or Be Programmed” offers some timely reflections on the state of what’s happening to us now. Maybe future readers will look back and laugh...or maybe they’ll look back and say at least someo...more Worried about the effect that ever expanding information technologies are having on global culture, our personal lives and how we interact with one another? Well, Douglas Rushkoff is (and if you’re not, you either haven’t been paying attention or you’re too young to remember the pre-internet world). “Program or Be Programmed” offers some timely reflections on the state of what’s happening to us now. Maybe future readers will look back and laugh...or maybe they’ll look back and say at least someone saw it coming.

Some of Rushkoff’s observations seem spot-on, while others are a bit more questionable. For example, he laments the lack of availability of computer programming classes at the high school level fearing that students are learning only how to operate the software without ever understanding the methods of its creation. That strikes me as an odd concern. One could just as easily argue that programmers are at a fundamental disadvantage lacking an understanding of the electrical engineering which makes modern microprocessors possible. That logic could be extended backward ad infinitum. (Do I need to understand Boolean logic in order to, say, build a website?)

His more astute observations deal with things like the often cited shortening of attention spans, the valuation of the recent over the relevant, the stress caused by the constant onslaught of new data (about which he says “for the first time, regular people are beginning to shows signs of stress and mental fatigue once exclusive to air traffic controllers and 911 operators”), and the separation of people from their physical surroundings (“our digital behaviors closely mirror those of Asperger’s sufferers; low pick up on social cues and facial expressions, apparent lack of empathy, and the inability to make facial contact”).

One of the more disturbing behaviors that omnipresent internet-enabled digital devices spawn is the attitude that a person’s online representation of themselves (a sort of simulation of one’s self) is more important than actually experiencing that life. This is a phenomenon in which it’s more important to one’s self valuation to be seen as being at all the right events, socializing with all of the right people having a better time than one’s audience than it is to actually the event being experienced. We’re all celebrities now (at least within our circle of digital followers).

He chronicles another familiar modern phenomenon: the mashup. Creative works that once stood as isolated and indivisible are now subject to infinite duplication, disassembly, rearrangement and publication as “new” works. Are they really new? If I rearrange the songs on your album and lay some new beats over top of it, am I an artist? Good question. It’s something that the worlds filmmakers will have to struggle with as their audience slices up their movie oeuvre and inserts characters from the film into a movie of their own making.

All is not lost, however. He highlights a positive trend in online communication: surfacing the truth. When statements are posted and circulated online which are inaccurate or flat out false, someone somewhere is going to see it and call out that falsehood. He says that “the way to flourish in a mediaspace biased toward nonfiction is to tell the truth.” He quickly adds a caveat to that saying that “this means having a truth to tell.”
(less)

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Jan 12, 2011 Nicholas Tollervey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An interesting and thought provoking read: an ideas book with aspects of an etiquette guide bolted on the side.

If you work in this space many of the ideas and arguments won't be new although it's great to have them all together in one svelte volume. As a programmer myself I certainly sympathise with the main thesis of the book (basically, what the title says). Nevertheless, an examination of how technological change changes/empowers/enslaves people is not a new endeavour and whilst this work is...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Paul Warner rated it 4 of 5 stars

As part of Vancouver's "city-wide read" I read Rushkoff's paperback and I recommend this intelligent book to EVERYONE! I didn't relate to every chapter, because he tries to appeal to different areas of interest (business, education, social, advertising, etc.)but the chapters that I did relate to were excellent and eye-opening, especially Chapter IV that really wakes you up to the way we are losing our "critical thinking" skills and must fight against our culture's push toward immediate facts wit...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Neil Krasnoff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

Having read Rushkoff a great deal over the last decade, I know that I generally find him thought provoking, though I don't usually agree with his conclusions. I read this book because I am interested in motivating teens to take up computer programming and thought this would be a good source of material. While the book did not serve its intended purpose for me, I found it to be a highly challenging and enjoyable read. I actually agreed with many of Rushkoff's arguments. however, much of what he s...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Eiki rated it 1 of 5 stars

Dear God this is an awful book: obvious, tedious, puffed up with empty words and self-importance. If "Ten Commands for a Digital Age" sounds like the title of a blog post to you, that's because it should have been one: there's just about enough ideas and specific examples here to sustain a longish blog post, no more.

Reading this short-but-not-short-enough book in its entirety has been like chewing through a loaf of damp white-bread trying to get to one tasty chocolate chip buried in the middle....more

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Jul 03, 2012 Ashryn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Meh.. I am inclined to think a lot of these commandments are overreactions, though he makes some good points. But then there's ' the US has to teach programming in school or China will surpass us' type of comment that makes me trust his opinion just a bit less than I want to.
It reminds me of the feeling you get when watching a michael moore documentary - Its all very shocking and told in a persuasive way that you want tombelieve, but even before you go and check the facts for yourself, there's...more

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Jul 27, 2011 John Pappas rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rushkoff's latest posits that the only way to ensure technology augments human development, and not the other way around, is to critically examine the biases inherent in the technology of the internet, iPads, etc. The way these technologies have been used the past decade are far from the manners in which their inventors intended. Now, instead of only enabling collaboration over distances, we email people sitting next to us. Rushkoff's analysis does not disappoint, and his guidelines for using di...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Kiri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Thought-provoking little book. I didn't agree with every argument (e.g., that networks are "timeless"), but each chapter gave me something to wrestle with mentally, and the book as a whole made me see various aspects of my life (interacting with technology) in a new light. I am already a "programmer," in that I have programming skills, but even so I consume most of what's on the net as a user, rather than getting out there and being actively involved myself. Programming is what I do at work. Rus...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Eric Phetteplace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lis-web

Rushkoff gives a concise & accessible introduction to so many issues of our digital era, from filter bubbles to social media to copyright. The book offers several commandments for living a healthier life & taking advantage of computers. In sum, ways to make computers useful to you rather than bending to their will. It would make us a better society if everyone was forced to read it in junior high.
All of that said, I found some of Rushkoff's contentions a bit strained (the fact that binar...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Hans de Zwart rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rushkoff on his rethorical chair again. The introduction chapter is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand how technology is affecting us and society. He makes a compelling argument for the fact that technology is not just a tool and isn't neutral, but comes with biases:

'Televisions are biased toward people sitting still in couches and watching. Automobiles are biased toward motion, individuality, and living in the suburbs. Oral culture is biased toward communicating in person, while wr...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Kaye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Kaye by: Meg Backus

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Douglas Rushkoff's Program or Be Programmedprovides an excellent primer for understanding the human relationship to technology and the problems we face when converting our human experiences into a digital medium. Above all, Program or Be Programmedargues that each individual should work to remain level-headed and in control of his or her experience with technology --- and programming, of course, is offered as the penultimate goal for reclaiming digital responsibility.

Throughout the book, Rushkof...more

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Oct 15, 2010 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't really like Rushkoff's writing style, and would like to see the sources/evidence for some of his more outlandish claims (especially around computing education in China and Iran)

That said, his overall ideas around technology changing society and his concrete suggestions on what to do are solid. If everyone could stop carrying on about the Internet in and of itself, and pay attention to what they themselves are doing with it instead, everyone would probably be a bit better off.

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Oct 05, 2011 ken rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall a great topic and a good book. I'm consistently amazed by the number of people I meet that are woefully ignorant (by choice) of the tools we use everyday. Almost as if a carpenter chose to use his palm instead of a hammer. Douglass Rushkoff breaks down this idea in various steps/chapters. My only beef is that he covers certain topics over
pages, when only a few paragraphs are necessary and I often found my self drifting thinking "ok i get it, move on."

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Sep 25, 2011 Matt Heavner rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a good "stop and think about it" book. I enjoyed the read, but felt like at some points it was a little too much "take it from me, I'm the expert." (I guess being the pundit who "coined the term" screenager allows this?? No!) On one of the very last pages Rushkoff claims that evolutionary biologists now know that the evolution of the human race was not "by chance" but was "intentional, towards optimization, etc.." -- this is a completely wrong reading of evolution! But still, worth a re...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Corey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed Rushkoff's "Coercion" quite a bit but this didn't seem as dense. There were some great insights but overall I didn't get anything ground breaking from this book other than I should really get around to some coding, but I've known that for a while now. Books on tech are as lasting as flowers...for about a week. The resources at the end were helpful though.

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About Douglas Rushkoff

Douglas Rushkoff is a New York-based writer, columnist and lecturer on technology, media and popular culture.

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Books by Douglas Rushkoff

Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back

Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say

Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Cyberspace

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“Our digital experiences are out of body. This biases us toward depersonalised behaviour in an environment where one’s identity can be a liability. But the more anonymously we engage with others, the less we experience the human repercussions of what we say and do. By resisting the temptation to engage from the apparent safety of anonymity, we remain accountable and present - and are much more likely to bring our humanity with us into the digital realm” — 4 people liked it

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