The Road to Selfdom: Knowledge in the Digital Age

Marion Fourcade Guest Talk about Selfhood and Digitality

In her talk "The Road to Selfdom: Knowledge in the Digital Age" (held in English), Marion Fourcade discusses the consequences of data harvested about us when we use the internet.

Datum: 26. Juli 2021
Zeit: 17.15 Uhr bis 19.00 Uhr
Ort: HS 9

Marion Fourcade (University of California, Berkeley) is the guest of honor at this year's Lucerne Master Class. From July 24th - 28th she and another 17 scholars from all over the world - all conducting a dissertation or a post-doc project examining "digitality" - will discuss the Lucerne Master Class's general topic "On the Political Economy of Digitality".

Topic of the Public Talk on July 26th:
The Road to Selfdom: Knowledge in the Digital Age
Early statements about the internet had a strong libertarian streak. In reminiscence of Hayek’s argument about the superiority of market competition, web search and other algorithms have come to be seen as the most efficient way both to process a society’s naturally dispersed stock of information and to learn the real, intimate truth about its citizens. Algorithmic outputs are opaque and often precarious, yet in practice people find it difficult to contest their authority as instruments of social or self-knowledge. In her talk, Marion Fourcade examines the political consequences of that abdication –specifically, how to think about freedom, equality and solidarity in the digital age.

Attendance/ Video Podcast
Due to the Corona pandemic, anyone interested in attending this public talk is asked to register for attendance by writing an e-mail to gsl@unilu.ch with the heading "Marion Fourcade Public Talk". Due to the pandemic, the number of auditors allowed is limited. For those unable to attend: A video podcast of the talk will be made available via the University's SWITCHtube channel a few days after July 26th.