Enshittification; Was There Ever an Old, Good Internet? / Cory Doctorow
In this session of “The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World…” reading group ( OCTOBER 3 / 2024, 8 pm GMT), we will be joined by Cory Doctorow and discuss Enshittification.
Enshittification: Was There Ever an Old, Good Internet?
Cory Doctorow
It sure feels like the internet used to be good. What made it good? Was it better people? Better companies? Better technology? What historical forces transformed the old, good internet into today’s enshitternet of five giant websites, each filled with text from the other four. More importantly, what can we do to transform that enshitternet to an unfortunate transitional phase en route to a new, good internet?.
Register here.
View the full program of “The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World…” reading group here.
Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest book, CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM (with Rebecca Giblin), is a nonfiction book about creative labor markets and monopoly. His latest novel is ATTACK SURFACE, a standalone adult sequel to LITTLE BROTHER. He is also the author of HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, a nonfiction work about conspiracies and monopolies; RADICALIZED and WALKAWAY, science fiction for adults; a YA graphic novel called IN REAL LIFE; and young adult novels like HOMELAND, PIRATE CINEMA, and LITTLE BROTHER.
His first picture book was POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER (Aug 2020). In 2023/4, Tor Books will publish two more science fiction novels for adults: RED TEAM BLUES and THE LOST CAUSE; and Verso will publish THE INTERNET CON, a nonfiction book about monopoly and radical interoperability. He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net, works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is an MIT Media Lab research affiliate, visiting professor of computer science at Open University, visiting professor of practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science, and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.