There's a book from the 70s called Technology and Social Shock that my father, a research scientist at NIST (one of the US national labs), gifted to me recently. Given this crazy Internet rabbit hole that I've made the big thing in my life, I think the hidden message is to be careful and to take the time to consider the negative consequences of the "cool stuff" we're working on and giving out to the world on this new platform of the Web.

There are some really scary stories in there, and I think that it remains a timely exposé of what happens when you aren't careful, given the accelerating rate of change that we're seeing in the development, deployment, and "hands-off" attitude that we're taking broadly across so many different contexts.

Some of the most egregious examples include the use of thalidomide, which ended up being teratogenic (babies without arms and legs), along with the "cool tech!" of X-ray shoe-fitting machines that ended up causing hundreds of thousands of cases of cancer and other diseases, all in the name of advancement (read: profit) by participants. Whats really great is the book was written before the advent of computers, so it provides very useful perspective into matters that should be deeply concerning to those who are in positions that enable the rapid deployment of wide-spread technology.

I can't recommend it enough.