Evgeny Morozov

Is Silicon Valley the New Welfare State?

In this special talk for Pi Capital and the How To Academy, in the intimate and ultra-cool setting of Second Home, Evgeny Morozov, one of the most brilliant and respected commentators on the Internet, will discuss one of the most important issues today: namely, how technology companies promise us a seemingly genuine path towards social mobility. Thus, they are more than happy to provide the public with free services in exchange for our data. Initially those services were limited to communication and search online but today they increasingly include services that promise better healthcare (think wearables), better education (think MOOCs), better transportation (think Uber) and even better and free connectivity for all (think Internet.org).

But what are the moral, political, and social consequences of accepting this free bargain? And why are our governments so eager to go along with Silicon Valley’s plans?

Evgeny Morozov is a writer and essayist. He’s the author of The Net Delusion (2011) and To Save Everything, Click Here (2013) and a syndicated columnist, with his monthly column appearing in The Observer, Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, El Pais, Internazionale, and other papers. He has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and London Review of Books. Previously a fellow at Georgetown and Stanford universities, he is currently working on a book about the history of the Internet .

"A lot of the geeks in Silicon Valley will tell you they no longer believe in the ability of policymakers in Washington to accomplish anything. They don't understand why people end up in politics; they would do much more good for the world if they worked at Google or Facebook. "

Evgeny Morozov

Evgeny Morozov is a writer and essayist. He’s the author of The Net Delusion (2011) and To Save Everything, Click Here (2013) and a syndicated columnist, with his monthly column appearing in The Observer, Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, El Pais, Internazionale, and other papers. He has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and London Review of Books. Previously a fellow at Georgetown and Stanford universities, he is currently working on a book about the history of the Internet .