Stand out of our Light Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy

Former Google advertising strategist, now Oxford-trained philosopher James Williams launches a plea to society and to the tech industry to help ensure that the technology we all carry with us every day does not distract us from pursuing our true goals in life. As information becomes ever more plentiful, the resource that is becoming more scarce is our attention. In this 'attention economy', we need to recognise the fundamental impacts of our new information environment on our lives in order to take back control. Drawing on insights ranging from Diogenes to contemporary tech leaders, Williams's thoughtful and impassioned analysis is sure to provoke discussion and debate. Williams is the inaugural winner of the Nine Dots Prize, a new Prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary social issues. This title is also available as Open Access.

1. Philosophy for trolls; Part I. Distraction by Design: 2. The faulty GPS; 3. The age of attention; 4. Bring your own boundaries; 5. Empires of the mind; Part II. Clicks against Humanity: 6. The citizen is the product; 7. The spotlight; 8. The starlight; 9. The daylight; Part III. Freedom of Attention: 10. The ground of first struggle; 11. The monster and the bank; 12. Marginal people on marginal time; 13. The brightest heaven of invention.

James Williams is currently a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute and Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he researches the philosophy and ethics of attention and persuasion as they relate to technology design. Prior to that he worked for over ten years at Google, where he received the Founders' Award - the company's highest honour - for his work on advertising products and tools.