Abstract

The University of Cambridge and the Nine Dots Prize warmly invite you to join us in celebrating the launch of a new book:

STAND OUT OF OUR LIGHT : FREEDOM AND RESISTANCE IN THE ATTENTION ECONOMY by James Williams

WINNER OF THE INAUGURAL $100,000 NINE DOTS PRIZE

Date: Thursday 31 May 2018, 5.15pm – 7pm; Venue: The Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DT

James Williams (University of Oxford) will give a short talk and then be joined in discussion by Maria Farrell (Writer and Consultant) and John Naughton (Technology Correspondent, The Observer).

Topics under discussion will include:

• How the internet enabled the rise of the largest, most effective, and most centralised system of behavioural and attitudinal manipulation in human history.

• How we have sleepwalked into a world in which the heads of a small handful of tech companies are able to influence what billions of individuals think and do.

• How taking a wider view of the concept of ‘attention’ enables us to see the full set of implications the attention economy carries for human freedom.

• How the dynamics of the digital attention economy amplify outrage and mob rule, and may even play a role in the rise of populism.

This event is free and open to the public, and will conclude with a drinks reception.

Details here: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/27761