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
Lewis H. Ziska: How Rising CO2 Is Turning Life on Earth Into a Bad Science Fiction Movie
Amit Chaudhuri on Post-Realist Fiction: Why Realism Is No Longer an Adequate Novelistic Form for Describing the World
Phyllis Vine: Why the Next Major Civil Rights Movement Is Mental Health Activism
Kate Beaton on Why Ducks, Her Coming-Of-Age Memoir, Isn't Quite As "Desolate" or "Dismal" As Some Critics Have Suggested
Matthew Stewart: Why the 9.9% Is Running Our World and How the 91.1% Need to Fight Back Against This Aristocracy
Mark LeVine on We'll Play Till We Die: The Role of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World
Sarah Kendzior: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Simultaneously Complacent and Paranoid
Kathryn and Ross Petras on Brains, Breasts, Bowels, and Bladders: A History of the World Through Body Parts
David Enrich: How Complicit Is Big Law in the Crimes and Misdemeanors of American Capitalism?
Joe Pompeo: What a Scandalous Double Murder in September 1922 Tells Us About America's Current Obsession With "Trume Crime"
Nicholas Kardaras: How Social Media Is Driving Our Mental Crisis and How Reading Plato Can Help Cure it
David Ambroz on Something All Americans Should Agree On: No Homeless Children and More Foster Kids in College Than in Jail
Lisa Genova: How Writers Can Use Both Memory and Forgetting to Improve Their Work