WE ARE VERY pleased to welcome authors Andrew Keen and Will Self to the Idler for a live event to discuss Keen’s new book, The Internet is Not the Answer.
Silicon Valley veteran Andrew Keen argues that the Internet has had, and will have in the future, a disastrous impact. Computers and computer games affect the process of our brains and the brains of our young as they develop. Artificial Intelligence will destroy the traditional jobs of those who depend on their intellects for work, in the same way that industrialisation destroyed the jobs of skilled workers. Keen’s new book The Internet Is Not The Answer traces the history of the internet, from its founding in the 1960s to the creation of the World Wide Web in 1989, through the waves of start-ups and the rise of the big data companies to the increasing attempts to monetize almost every human activity. Keen shows how the Web has had a deeply negative effect on our culture, economy and society.
Informed by Keen’s own research and interviews, as well as the work of other writers, reporters and academics, The Internet is Not the Answer is an urgent investigation into the tech world – from the threat to privacy posed by social media and online surveillance by government agencies, to the impact of the Internet on unemployment and economic inequality. Keen concludes by outlining the changes that he believes must be made, before it’s too late. If we do nothing, he warns, this new technology and the companies that control it will continue to impoverish us all.
Andrew will be in conversation with commentator, journalist and author Will Self. Bring a teenager for free.
Our event takes place on 17 June 2015.
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