Freedom to Think: The Long Struggle to Liberate Our Minds

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Without a moment's pause, we share our most intimate thoughts with trillion-dollar tech companies. Their algorithms categorize us and jump to conclusions about who we are. They even shape our everyday thoughts and actions - from who we date to how we vote. But this is just the latest front in an age-old struggle.

Part history and part manifesto, Freedom to Think charts the history and importance of our most basic human right: freedom of thought. From Galileo to Nudge Theory to Alexa, human rights lawyer Susie Alegre explores how the powerful have always sought to get inside our heads, influence how we think and shape what we buy. Providing a bold new framework to understand how our agency is being gradually undermined, Freedom to Think is a groundbreaking and vital charter for taking back our humanity and safeguarding our reason.

'Profoundly essential and deeply engaging.' - Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
'Engaging and entertaining. A call to action on one of the most pressing issues of our time.' - Jennifer Robinson, leading human rights lawyer

Reviews

'Profoundly essential and deeply engaging. If freedom of thought and the very possibility of a free society are to survive the digital century, then we urgently need the rights and laws that will make it so. Thankfully, Alegre stands with us to lead and light the way, beginning with her compelling, powerful, and necessary book.' -Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
'A brilliant, accessible book by a brilliant lawyer. Freedom of thought is a fundamental human right and Susie Alegre powerfully argues that it needs to be harnessed now.' -Helena Kennedy QC, leading human rights lawyer

'Freedom to Think identifies and then fills a gaping hole in how we consider the world. It is a book that will shake and refresh, but ultimately leave you more hopeful about the future.' -Alison Goldsworthy, CEO of The Depolarization Project and author of Poles Apart

'Engaging and entertaining. A call to action on one of the most pressing issues of our time.' -Jennifer Robinson, leading human rights lawyer

'Alegre asks a provocative and original question as we struggle to understand and react to our increasingly technologized world: are we losing our freedom of thought Her ideas are much needed.' -David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect

'A thoughtful and engaging book: profound, moving, and even funny.' -Johnny Ryan, Senior Fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties

'In the absence of adequate scrutiny or accountability, technology has developed to undermine the keystone for human dignity: the right to freedom of thought. In this timely and pioneering book Alegre contributes a sorely needed vision for how we may protect a "forgotten freedom" and collectively avert an Orwellian future. This book is an insightful and urgent wake-up call.' -Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

'Powerful and persuasive. This important, finely written book explains why we must protect that most fundamental of our freedoms at a time when it is in danger of being overborne by profit-making propaganda, fake news and hate-fuelled social media.' -Geoffrey Robertson QC, founder of Doughty Street Chambers

Author Bio

Susie Alegre is a leading human rights barrister at the internationally renowned Doughty Street Chambers. She has been a legal pioneer in digital human rights, in particular the impact of artificial intelligence on the human rights of freedom of thought and opinion. She is also Senior Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton.