Episode 2310: Why Progressives must become "Yes People" on Technology
In this week’s That Was The Week round up of tech news, Andrew and Keith Teare discuss the need for progressives to become what Keith calls “yes people” on technology. At the moment, he argues, their reactionary “no” on tech is handing MAGA conservatives and their Silicon Valley backers a free pass to win the debate about the future. While Keith and Andrew aren’t always on the same page about the need to regulate Big Tech, they are in complete agreement that progressives - both inside and outside Silicon Valley - need to liberate themselves of their nostalgia for the industrial 20th century and embrace the digital future.
Keith Teare is the founder and CEO of SignalRank Corporation. Previously, he was executive chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd., a U.K.-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. Teare studied at the University of Kent and is the author of “The Easy Net Book” and “Under Siege.” He writes regularly for TechCrunch and publishes the “That Was The Week” newsletter.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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
Jeff Kosseff: What Exactly Is Section 230 and Why Was It So Essential in the Creation of the Internet?
Rick Wartzman on Why Are Walmart Workers Still Broke? The Limits of a "Socially Conscious" American Capitalism That Still Won't Pay Its Employees a Living Wage
Matthew Campbell on Dead in the Water: The True Story of a Fake Hijacking and a Real Murder
Andrew Small on A Cold War Without Limits: The Chilling Story of China's Rupture With the West
Neal Gabler on You Don't Need to Be a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows: Ted Kennedy and the Rise of American Conservatism
Lucas Joppa: Why Both Government and Private Corporations Have Essential Roles in Confronting Global Warming
Jessica Todd Harper: Why Photography Can Be Fine Art and What Photographers Should Learn From Vermeer and Other 17th Century Dutch Artists
Isaac Stone Fish on America Second: Is It Really Possible That America's Elites Are Making China Stronger?
Daphne E. Jones on a Note to Donald Trump: This Is How to Become a Real Winner
Andrew Anagnost: How the Moral Sickness Afflicting Silicon Valley Might Be a Pandemic of Egoism
Peter Rawlinson: The Truth About Battery-Powered and Self-Driving Cars From the Engineer Who Invented the Tesla Model S and the Lucid Air
Edward J. Delaney on Cary Grant as The Acrobat: A Novel About the Hollywood Comic Star Whose Best Joke Was That He Didn't Really Exist
Andrew S. Weiss on Super Unhero: Vladimir Putin, the Accidental Czar, Imagined Graphically