Team Human

By (author) Rushkoff Douglas
Short description/annotation
Team Human is a manifesto—a fiery distillation of preeminent digital theorist Douglas Rushkoff’s most urgent thoughts on civilisation and human nature.
Description

In one hundred lean and incisive statements, Douglas Rushkoff argues that we are essentially social creatures and that we achieve our greatest aspirations when we work together—not as individuals. Yet today society is threatened by a vast antihuman infrastructure that undermines our ability to connect. Money, once a means of exchange, is now a means of exploitation; education, conceived as a way to elevate the working class, has become another assembly line; and the internet has only further divided us into increasingly atomised and radicalised groups.

Team Human delivers a call to arms. If we are to resist and survive these destructive forces, we must recognise that being human is a team sport. In Rushkoff’s own words: “Being social may be the whole point”. Harnessing wide-ranging research on human evolution, biology and psychology, Rushkoff shows that when we work together we realise greater happiness, productivity and peace. If we can find others who understand this fundamental truth and reassert our humanity—together—we can make the world a better place to be human.

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"In Team Human, [Rushkoff] enumerates the ways connectedness matters, and argues that the technology we think connects us today is in fact tearing us apart... his cause is worthy: ‘The first step toward reversing our predicament is to recognize that being human is a team sport’...""
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"Can the revolution start already? This book will help us. Thank God for Douglas Rushkoff."
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"[Rushkoff] paints our current predicament with infectious élan and energy."
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"An astonishing, paradigm-shifting must-read for all inhabitants of the twenty-first century. Precisely and cogently written. Rushkoff’s best work so far."
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"Mr Rushkoff... a vibrant thinker of the online age."
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"Rushkoff deals with heavyweight topics with a light touch, and Team Human is a joy to read – witty, accessible, and highly quotable."
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"‘Team Human’ presents a convincing central argument and sometimes delights, particularly in Rushkoff’s roasting of the techno-solutionists who refuse to challenge antihuman values."
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"A vivid thinker, Rushkoff is an insightful and acerbic antidote to Facebook, cultural hegemony, and the corporatization of everything."
Biographical note
Douglas Rushkoff is professor of media theory and digital economics at Queens/CUNY. Named one of the world’s ten most influential intellectuals by MIT, he hosts the Team Human podcast and has written many award-winning books. He lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.