Portrait of Jaron Lanier
Left · Thinker or writer · Active today

Jaron Lanier

American computer scientist and tech critic

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A virtual-reality pioneer turned critic who argues that social media distorts society and that people should be paid for the data they create.

Jaron Lanier sits in the left-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: leaning state-led and leaning libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly tech-cautious on technology, leaning libertarian on liberty and authority and leaning state-led on economy. The profile is close to the middle on religion.

Read more about Jaron Lanier on Wikipedia →

Where Jaron Lanier sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyLeaning state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureSlightly progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyStrongly tech-cautious
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceSlightly peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsSlightly anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionCentered on religion
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismSlightly non-interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Jaron Lanier

Tristan Harris Co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology99%Jane Jacobs American-Canadian urbanist, 1916 to 200699%Shoshana Zuboff American scholar and author99%Hannah Arendt German-American political theorist, 1906 to 197599%Bruce Springsteen American singer-songwriter97%Lina Khan American antitrust scholar and former FTC chair97%Neil Postman American media critic, 1931 to 200397%Michael Sandel American political philosopher96%

People furthest from Jaron Lanier

Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 171515%Benito Mussolini Prime Minister of Italy, 1922 to 194315%Joseph Stalin Soviet leader, 1920s to 195316%Adolf Hitler Chancellor and Führer of Germany, 1933 to 194516%

Political views closest to Jaron Lanier

Neo-LuddismResists industrial and digital technology that is seen to erode community, work and…96%CooperativismPrefers businesses owned and run by workers, consumers or local communities.96%Utopian socialismImagines planned model communities built on cooperation, an approach that predates…95%LocalismPushes power and decisions down to the smallest workable community.94%

Read more about Jaron Lanier

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Biographies of Jaron LanierBooks on neo-Luddism

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: JD Lasica, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.