Radio Live - Podcasts - Keen On America - Big Brother Down Under: Is it 1984 Already in Australia?

Big Brother Down Under: Is it 1984 Already in Australia?

Author: Andrew Keen December 14, 2025 Duration: 37:31

Big Brother Down Under: Is it 1984 Already in Australia?

Podcast episode

Big Brother Down Under: Is it 1984 Already in Australia?

Keen On America

Society Commentary Culture News

Keen On America is a sharp, fast-moving podcast hosted by author and commentator Andrew Keen. Known for asking impertinent questions, Keen cross-examines some of the world’s most thoughtful voices on politics, economics, history, culture, the environment, and technology. Each episode digs beneath headlines and hype to uncover what is really shaping America today and how those forces connect to global change. Listeners can expect challenging conversations rather than easy talking points, as Keen presses guests to explain not just what is happening, but why it matters and what might come next. Whether you are trying to make sense of polarized politics, rapid technological disruption, or shifting social norms, this show offers a bracing, critical lens. Tune in and listen episodes of Keen On America to hear Andrew Keen interrogate the ideas and assumptions that define contemporary American life.

It’s been quite a week in tech. The Australian social media ban, the Netflix vs Paramount fight over Warner Bros & the Disney-OpenAI deal. That Was The Week’s Keith Teare and I try to explain all this in the broader context of the future of media in 2026 and beyond. Has Australia really gone Orwellian in its teen social media ban, who should own Warner and will movie theaters & serious journalism have a future in the AI age? Our answers aren’t always what you’d expect.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

More episodes

Episode 1998: Emily Raboteau on how to mother against "the apocalypse"

Episode 1998: Emily Raboteau on how to mother against "the apocalypse"

13.03.2024 Duration: 33:24

Last week, the LA Times book critic Bethanne Patrick came on the show to discuss new books about life in our age of the polycrisis. One of these was Emily Raboteau’s much acclaimed Lessons For Survival: Mothering Against…

Episode page

Episode 1997: Benjamin Shestakofsky reveals the inegalitarianism at the heart of the startup economy

Episode 1997: Benjamin Shestakofsky reveals the inegalitarianism at the heart of the startup economy

12.03.2024 Duration: 41:12

University of Pennsylvania sociologist Benjamin Shestakofksy spent a couple of years as the fly on the wall in an anonymous tech startup. His new book, BEHIND THE STARTUP, not only reveals what he learned about the insan…

Episode page

Episode 1996: Frank H. McCourt, Jr explains why rebuilding the Internet is THE most important issue of our time

Episode 1996: Frank H. McCourt, Jr explains why rebuilding the Internet is THE most important issue of our time

11.03.2024 Duration: 48:14

Think you know Frank H. McCourt, Jr, the illustrious real estate media magnate, former chairman/owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers & current owner of Marseilles FC? Think again. McCourt is also now in the business of savin…

Episode page

Episode 1995: Sam Daley-Harris explains how to reclaim American democracy

Episode 1995: Sam Daley-Harris explains how to reclaim American democracy

10.03.2024 Duration: 35:19

If, as Sam Daley-Harris believes, “cynicism is obedience”, then active citizenship is a form of rebellion. That seems to be the argument in both the 2024 edition of Daley-Harris’ RECLAIMING OUR DEMOCRACY and in our discu…

Episode page

Episode 1994: Why 1924 was the year that Adolf Hitler became "Hitler" and what it teaches us about the crisis of American democracy in 2024

Episode 1994: Why 1924 was the year that Adolf Hitler became "Hitler" and what it teaches us about the crisis of American democracy in 2024

09.03.2024 Duration: 40:54

I talk to Peter Ross Range, Hitler historian and author of 1924 & UNFATHOMABLE ASCENT, about Adolf Hitler as the "gold standard" of authoritarianism and how the Nazi leader compares with Donald Trump. In contrast with Ra…

Episode page

Episode 1993: Keith Teare on the Hobbesian war of all-against-all inside & outside Silicon Valley

Episode 1993: Keith Teare on the Hobbesian war of all-against-all inside & outside Silicon Valley

09.03.2024 Duration: 34:53

The US Congress just announced war on TikTok; while, in Europe, the EU declared war this week on Spotify and Apple. Elon Musk and Sam Altman have declared war over OpenAI. And everyone inside and outside Google are all w…

Episode page

Episode 1992: Andrew Cockburn explains how Dr. Strangelove has always been a feature - rather than a bug - of Silicon Valley

Episode 1992: Andrew Cockburn explains how Dr. Strangelove has always been a feature - rather than a bug - of Silicon Valley

08.03.2024 Duration: 38:28

The cover story of Harper’s this month is piece by Andrew Cockburn, their Washington DC editor, entitled “The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley Problem”. But as Cockburn explained to me today, the Pentagon’s problem is also ours…

Episode page

Episode 1991: Bethanne Patrick on how to disrupt the disruption of our revolutionary age

Episode 1991: Bethanne Patrick on how to disrupt the disruption of our revolutionary age

06.03.2024 Duration: 36:11

In episode 1991, Andrew talks to the LA Times book critic, Bethanne Patrick, about six intriguing new non-fiction books about our contemporary age of inequality, existential anxiety and political and environmental upheav…

Episode page

Episode 1990: James Kaplan on Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans and the making of the most miraculous jazz record of all time

Episode 1990: James Kaplan on Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans and the making of the most miraculous jazz record of all time

06.03.2024 Duration: 42:16

“Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself,” Miles Davis once remarked. Most artists, of course, never ascend to the heights of even closely sounding like themselves. But as James Kaplan, the author…

Episode page

Epiosode 1989: Travis Rieder explains why an ethically pure life is neither moral nor practical in our complex world

Epiosode 1989: Travis Rieder explains why an ethically pure life is neither moral nor practical in our complex world

05.03.2024 Duration: 39:22

One of the more annoying characteristics of our coastal elites is their incessant virtue signaling. Every life choice - from drinking from plastic water bottles to driving electric cars to deciding to have children - is…

Episode page

Episode 1988: How the Patty Hearst saga captured the paranoia of early 70's America

Episode 1988: How the Patty Hearst saga captured the paranoia of early 70's America

03.03.2024 Duration: 37:44

You couldn’t make up the kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army in February 1974. The granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, America’s most divisive media baron, was kidnapped in Berkeley (of all…

Episode page

EPISODE 1977: Max Stearns on why a "Parliamentary America" is the best fix for the country's broken democratic system

EPISODE 1977: Max Stearns on why a "Parliamentary America" is the best fix for the country's broken democratic system

03.03.2024 Duration: 46:31

In episode 1977, Andrew talks to Maxwell L. Stearns, author of PARLIAMENTARY AMERICA, about the need for a parliamentary system to repair the broken democratic system in America.Maxwell L. Stearns (BALTIMORE, MD) is the…

Episode page

Episode 1976: Keith Teare on the DEI Elephant in every Silicon Valley Boardroom

Episode 1976: Keith Teare on the DEI Elephant in every Silicon Valley Boardroom

02.03.2024 Duration: 41:05

In our weekly KEEN ON wrap of tech news with Keith Teare, author of the THAT WAS THE WEEK newletter, Keith explains why the Google Gemini fiasco is a feature rather than a bug of our preoccupation with identity politics.…

Episode page

Episode 1975: Ira Shapiro explains how Mitch McConnell Betrayed America

Episode 1975: Ira Shapiro explains how Mitch McConnell Betrayed America

01.03.2024 Duration: 34:26

In episode 1975, Andrew talks to Ira Shapiro, author of THE BETRAYAL, about what he sees as Mitch McConnell's grave and unprecedented crime against American democracy.Ira Shapiro spent the first half of his 45 year Washi…

Episode page

EPISODE 1974: Getting beyond Oppenheimer

EPISODE 1974: Getting beyond Oppenheimer

29.02.2024 Duration: 30:01

In episode 1974, Andrew talks to Sarah Scoles, author of COUNTDOWN, about the chillingly blinding future of nuclear weapons.Sarah Scoles is a Colorado-based science journalist, a contributing editor at Popular Science an…

Episode page

Logo

Select station

—

VOL