"The Enshittification of Everything (and what to do about it)"
Cory Doctorow (A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell)
Friday, Sept. 12, at 3:00pm
Venue: TBD
An A. D. White Professors-at-Large keynote public talk
Open to all. A light reception to follow.
Abstract:
It's not your imagination: the internet *suuuucks* now. The enshittification of our digital world isn't the result of great historical forces or iron laws of economics - it's caused by specific policy choices, made in living memory, by named individuals. The bad news is, *everything* is getting enshittified. The good news is: we are not prisoners to the depraved foolishness of early 21st century policymakers. We can - we must - break free of the prison they built for us, consigning their terrible ideas to history's scrapheap so we can create a new, good internet that is fit to serve as the digital nervous system of this fraught century.
Doctorow visits Cornell as an ADW Professor-at-Large Sept. 12-19, 2025. Cosponsored by Dept. of History and Dept. of Science & Technology Studies.
Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently PICKS AND SHOVELS and THE BEZZLE (followups to RED TEAM BLUES) and THE LOST CAUSE, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His most recent nonfiction book is THE INTERNET CON: HOW TO SEIZE THE MEANS OF COMPUTATION, a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include RED TEAM BLUES, a science fiction crime thriller; CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the LITTLE BROTHER series for young adults; IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Full bio.
Photo credit: Copyright Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud (JUCO), www.jucophoto.com/, Creative Commons Attribution
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