Thank you to the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy and the luminous Gina Neff at the U of Cambridge for hosting me, along with featured speakers and longtime thinking pals Safiya Noble and Audrey Tang. Here’s my keynote on What AI Can and Cannot Do for Democracy:
It was a polite debate, not a civil one
🤥 lying ≠ civility
. . . With factcheck - w/out factcheck
. . . Opt ins to fact checks
What’s the point of having journalists moderate then?
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2024/08/26/a-most-normal-election-cycle/
There are lots of things new about this (shorter) US election cycle, and this may be a good thing. I wrote about how long election cycles are harmful for democracies, linking to my latest book, After Democracy: Imagining our Political Future (YUP)
"What if democracy is not what we are after but the path to something else?" sounds like it came straight out of The Dispossessed. I feel like Le Guinean anarchism is likely the destination I would choose. Speaking as an Omelan.
Photo and excerpt by Zizi Papacharissi, @zizip from @ntnsndr's new book.
Now up: A draft syllabus for an undergrad research course focused on the great election year of 2024. Uses @zizip's latest book to frame our questions: https://nathanschneider.info/school/digital_culture_and_politics
Feedback super welcome!
Regardless of what happens in November in the US, yesterday's sotu (nicknamed stfu), was a cathartic experience for many.
There were things that needed to be said out loud, to us in the US, and to the world, so that we do not lose sight of who we are. And they were so uttered.
Richard Littauer
Nathan Schneider