THE STORY ECONOMY

Welser urges readers to reconsider their relationship with technology in this debut nonfiction work.

Per the author, humans have always been drawn to the psychological power of stories—the cave art at Sulawesi tells the tale of a Paleolithic hunting party from 45,000 years ago. Stories, at their core, reflect humanity’s ubiquitous desire for meaning. Yet, writes scholar and entrepreneur Welser, in an era of doomscrolling, AI-generated content for social media consumption, and influencers who peddle highly edited versions of their “real” lives, authentic stories are hard to find. Reflecting on a potential future economy in which, in the words of Bill Gates, “Humans won’t be needed for most things,” the author posits a novel, alternative economic model that allows individuals to break the manipulative tactics of “Big Tech” and restore their mental and physical well-being by leveraging their personal, authentic stories as “currency” in a “story-based marketplace.” While Welser’s promise to “rearrange capitalism” may be overly ambitious, the author offers convincing and harrowing social commentary on the destructive power of modern technology. (He compares smartphones to a “drug in [his] pocket, dependent on stimulation”). Among the many psychologically damaging aspects of technology covered in the book are Phantom Vibration Syndrome (a condition in which heavy phone users remain in a heightened state of alertness in anticipation of the next notification on their device) and the dopamine hits that become a daily part of an “internet junkie’s” daily routine. The author offers here a research-backed guidebook to freeing oneself from technology’s deprivations. As the former director of the Engineering and Applied Sciences Department at the RAND Corporation and the current CEO of Lotic.ai, Welser is far from a Luddite, and his insider’s perspective amplifies his dire warnings about unregulated Big Tech. The book’s engaging graphs and other visual aids accompany accessible text.

A well-researched and surprisingly poignant commentary on the dangers of technology.