Live stream recording- Wednesday 21 might 2014 Internetsceptic Evgeny Morozov is coming to Amsterdam on event of the Dutch translation of his book “To Save Whatever, Click On This Link. The Folly of Technological Solutionism”. Morozov will speak and dispute with other guestspeakers.
About Evgeny Morozov Evgeny Morozov began his career as a young man who was optimistic about thepossibilities of the web. He altered his mind nevertheless: now he can be referred to as someone who hesitates about the democratizing and liberating capabilities of the web. He matured in Belarus, one of the former Sovjet republics. ‘Not precisely an oasis of liberal democracy,’ as he declares. He became interested by the concept of opening authoritarian states through the possibilities of the Internet. When he was seventeen he started studying Company and Marketing at the American University in Bulgaria, thanks to financial support of the Open Society Institute established by biljonair George Soros.
Doubt After graduation Morozov started dealing with non-for-profit organization Transitions Online (TOL). TOL attempts to promote democracy in post-communist countries in Eastern-Europe and Central-Asia through brand-new media. His company was very enthusiastic, however Morozov started questioning the equalizing possibilities of brand-new media. His doubt first rose within in him after the protests in Moldova, which he described (as one of the very first) as a ‘Twitter-revolution’. When the protests compromised, it appeared there weren’t as numerous revolutionary Twitterers as was at first assumed. Other types of communication, such as the good ol’ telephone, were as important. And dictatorships didn’t fall apart as easily as hoped. ‘On the contrary, those who made it through the challenge of the Web, became much more repressive,’ Morozov discovered. His web dream was shattered.
Misconception As soon as recovered from his deception, he stopped his job at TOL and started researching how the Internet can have a negative impact on democratization. This resulted in The Net Delusion (2011 ), that he wrote during a fellowship at Georgetown University in Washington. He composed numerous short articles, who were released in The Washington Post, The Economic Expert, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Slate. (source: Tegenlicht).
Referents: Hans de Zwart (Little bits of Freedom), Linnet Taylor (Madam Curie research study fellow) and Dimitri Tokmetzis (De Reporter).
Mediator: Maurits Martijn (journalist).
This is a program of De Balie (Rik Seveke) and Uitgeverij De Wereld.
https://facebook.com/events/795454817133095.
http://www.debalie.nl/agenda/programma/evgeny-morozov/e_9489091/p_11337916.
http://www.debalie.nl.
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