We talk to Paul Mason about his new book Clear Bright Future - a radical defence of the human being in the age of digital transformation and a call to political action. The book covers a lot of ground and so do we: Trump and Nietzsche, machine learning and network effects, climate change and neoliberalism, secular humanism and Christian Enlightenment. But no Brexit! A conversation about the biggest political choices we face and the deep philosophical questions that lie behind them. With Helen Thompson.
Talking Points:
How do we demystify technology?
AI has the potential to fundamentally transform industrial societies.
Information has never been more abundant, yet we feel relatively helpless because we have so little control over network effects and the information environment.
Is there still space in our political discourse for difficult choices? Are we willing to lose things we value if we want things to be better?
Paul is critical of the effect of neoliberal practice on the human self.
According to Paul, the left needs to harness the power of the state.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Further Learning:
And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking
","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}