‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity

The American computer scientist, who coined the term virtual reality,' cautions against online psychological operatives'

Jaron Lanier, the eminent American computer scientist, composer and artist, is no stranger to skepticism around social media, but his current interpretations of its effects are becoming darker and his warnings more trenchant.

Lanier, a dreadlocked free-thinker credited with coining the term virtual reality", has long sounded dire sirens about the dangers of a world over-reliant on the internet and at the increasing mercy of tech lords, their social media platforms and those who work for them.