Second Life and Digital Maoism: Andrew Keen Interviews Jaron Lanier, Web Visionary

And that is part of the larger pattern of the appeal of a new online collectivism that is nothing less than a resurgence of the idea that the collective is all-wise, that it is desirable to have influence concentrated in a bottleneck that can channel the collective with the most verity and force. This is different from representative democracy, or meritocracy. This idea has had dreadful consequences when thrust upon us from the extreme Right or the extreme Left in various historical periods. The fact that it’s now being re-introduced today by prominent technologists and futurists, people who in many cases I know and like, doesn’t make it any less dangerous.” from Jaron Lanier’s Digital Maoism.

Andrew Keen has lunch with Jaron Lanier, Web Visionary, to discuss the unfortunate effect of online mobs, the luminous life and tragic death of Alan Turing, the future of artificial intelligence and the dubious sexuality of Second Life avatars.

Andrew Keen is PoliticsCentral’s podcasting source for the present and future convergence of media, culture and technology.

You can find his previous podcasts @ AfterTV and his collected writings @ The Great Seduction.

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