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
Episode 2012: David Donnelly on the catastrophic costs to humanity of Silicon Valley surveillance capitalism
Episode 2011: KEEN ON AMERICA featuring Peter Wehner
Episode 2010: How everyone, even business school professors, are joining the anti big tech church
Episode 2009: Keith Teare on why Big Tech might be getting even BIGGER
Episode 2008: Chris French on the Science of Weird S**t
Episode 2007: Bethanne Patrick's guide to a literary March madness
Episode 2006: Everything you wanted to know about sex but didn't have the imagination to ask
Episode 2005: Why the Pete Rose story is as much about the rise and fall of America as it is about the fate of Charlie Hustle
EPISODE 2004: Jacob Heilbrunn on conservative America's 100 year romance with foreign dictators like Kaiser Wilhelm II, Mussolini, Pinochet, Orban and Putin
Episode 2003: Martin Sixsmith on Vladimir Putin and the return of history to Russia and the West
Episode 2002: Elaine Lin Hering gives voice to the "Unsilent Generation"
Episode 2001: KEEN ON AMERICA featuring Adam Hochschild
Episode 2000: Keith Teare on why the Congressional attempt to ban TikTok is astonishingly dumb