I can certainly see Lanier's point about how certain aspects of the Internet can detract from other areas of life. Most of us are all very connected to some form of technology and feel lost or empty without it. I can also see how this would apply to how this time spent on the Internet affects our ability to develop social skills. For instance, when I was in Ireland this summer, the first two weeks we had very limited internet capabilities unless we went down to a small computer lab or to an internet cafe. My point is that the time our group would have spent in our rooms being anti-social and social on Facebook was spent truly getting to know each other and to explore Ireland.
I think were Lanier falls short a little bit is that he fails to see that we are all still individuals. The new remix culture that has formed allows us to express our individual ideas, opinions and creativity. By posting our piece of work to Facebook or twitter or a blog or YouTube (or what have you) we are able to share our individualism and creativity--these social sites are merely a tool used to get them out to mass audiences at a fast pace.
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I was a little offended at his comment about college kids stealing music. This is a mass generalization, more than college students do it, not to try to justify stealing but seriously. and related to that most artists/musicians aren't too concerned with this sharing of music. It is more the labels and record companies that fear some loss of profit in their already overstuffed wallet.
(http://ripremix.com/)
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I think my favorite part of the book was the part in chapter 8 about Songles. I am not sure if this, or Dongles, is a word or a real thing but I liked the first sentence; "A songle is a dongle for a song." He then goes on to explain what a dongle is but no clarification on a songle. I just like the phrasing of the words, it makes me smile
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