Technology, democracy and power

This talk was given by Jamie Bartlett at an advaya event.

Tech has radically changed the way we live our lives. Corporations have accumulated power in ways that existing regulatory and intellectual frameworks struggle to comprehend. A consensus is emerging that the power of these new digital monopolies is unprecedented, and that it has important implications for politics and society.

With our fragile political systems threatened by this digital revolution, the story of our time becomes dark and weird. Jamie argues that through our unquestioning embrace of big tech, the building blocks of democracy are slowly being removed. The middle class is being eroded, sovereign authority and civil society are weakened, and we citizens are losing our critical faculties, maybe even our free will.