Explorations: Identity in the Era of Technology

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(as of Aug 12, 2025 16:05:32 UTC – Details)

From the author of The Immortal King Rao, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, comes a deeply personal journey into how technology companies have fulfilled and exploited our innate desire for understanding and connection.

A Most Anticipated Book from The New York Times and more! • One of Esquire’s Best Books of the Year (So Far) • One of Vanity Fair’s Best Books to Kick Off Your Summer Reading • A Belletrist Book Club Pick

“I cannot imagine a better guide through the infuriating, labyrinthine underworld of technology than Vauhini Vara.”—Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House

“Smart, funny, honest.”—The New Yorker • “Seamless blend of personal narrative and systemic critique.”—The Atlantic • “Beautifully written and profoundly researched.” —Kirkus • “At once genre-defying and gripping.”—The Washington Post

Upon its release in November 2022, ChatGPT unveiled a secretive initiative: training AI-driven machines to write. The vision behind it was grand—to craft machines capable of communication and excelling at various tasks beyond human capability. But was this ambition realistic? If successful, would it bring freedom or domination?

Vauhini Vara, an acclaimed tech journalist and editor, has wrestled with these inquiries for years. In 2021, she prompted an earlier version of ChatGPT to address her sister’s death, resulting in an essay that was both profoundly moving and unsettling. It quickly garnered widespread attention.

This encounter highlighted the dual-edged nature of corporate technologies, compelling Vara to examine how they have reshaped her perception of herself and the world—from discovering online chat rooms in her youth to serving as The Wall Street Journal’s first Facebook reporter, and even seeking writing guidance from ChatGPT—all while contributing to the repository of human-generated content leveraged for corporate profit. Throughout her exploration, she includes personal Google searches, Amazon reviews, and the raw materials of online living—alongside the viral AI experiment that initiated it all. Searches unveils how technological capitalism shapes and exploits human experience, while suggesting that by harnessing our unique collective creativity, we can envision a freer, more empowered relationship with our machines and, ultimately, with each other.

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pantheon
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 8, 2025
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593701526
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593701522
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.16 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.18 x 9.54 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #62,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #23 in Science Essays & Commentary (Books) #101 in Artificial Intelligence & Semantics #113 in Essays (Books)
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