Culture

Edge: Jaron Lanier – The Local-Global Flip

In a freewheeling hour-long conversation, Lanier touches on, and goes beyond the themes he launched in his influential 2006 Edge essay “Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism.” What he terms “The Local-Global Flip” might be better expressed as “The Lanier Effect”. We used to think that information is power and that the personal computer enabled lives. But, according to Jaron Lanier, things changed about ten years ago. He cites Apple, Google, and Walmart as some of the reasons.

David Cannadine: The Construction of National Identities

The wartime memoirs of Charles de Gaulle open with a celebrated evocation of his native land: “a certain idea of France”. The words express the widely-held view of the nation as the most significant focus and resonant form of collective human identity, the end point to which the whole of history was inexorably tending, initially in Europe, and eventually throughout the whole world. In the course of his lecture at Melbourne University’s Festival of Ideas, British historian David Cannadine looks at the evidence for such a proposition and the evidence against. He also explores the part historians themselves have played in the creation and the undermining of national identities. Will the notion of the nation survive in an increasingly globalised world where boundaries are more porous and less defined than ever before?

Izzeldin Abuelaish: I Shall Not Hate

Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish’s three daughters were killed by an Israeli rocket yet he vowed not to succumb to bitterness and hate, even as he poured out his grief live on an Israeli television program. He tells his incredible story in his book, “I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity”. At this Sydney Writers Festival session, he’s speaking with magazine journalist David Leser.

Mary Catherine Bateson: Live Longer, Think Longer

We’re not just living longer, we’re thriving longer, Bateson says, but so far we seem to be thinking shorter. Aging societies the world over can benefit from increased longevity because human lives have added a new stage, what Bateson calls “Adulthood II: the age of active wisdom”.

Searching for Meaning in a Secular Age / Meaning, Relevance, and the Limits of Technology

Drawing on their reading of Western classics, philosophy professors Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Kelly analyze how different epochs offered unique answers to the question of what is sacred and what can provide meaning for human existence. They explore the examples of Homer, Jesus, and Melville to highlight differing paradigms of culture practice. Dreyfus and Kelly then trace the transition to the secular age in which nihilism prevails.

Steven Levy: Inside Google: The Myths, the Culture and the Secret Sauce

Despite being one of the most successful and celebrated companies in history, Google maintains an air of mystery, and cultural myths abound. How has Google stayed innovative and cutting edge while making the transition to tech giant? What exactly happens inside the elusive Google campus? Levy took a deep dive into Google management, its products and its company culture. Join us as he shares untold stories and unpacks the mythology behind Google.

New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big

Big by the New Fast Automatic Daffodils from their 1990 album Pigeonhole. Also on YouTube, the Big (Baka) remix by Jon Da Silva. Lyrics.

James Gleick: Bits and Bytes

In James Gleick’s book ‘The Information’ he speaks about the information “flood”. We are in a predicament where we have the ability to reach out and get facts easily. Although we may have access this does not necessarily bring with it knowledge. The gatekeepers of information are more important than ever, due to our reliance on these authorities for truth.