Pains and Gains of the Net

Everything is increasingly immersed in the digital. Atoms are being replaced by bits. The interpersonal is morphing into something else, more virtual and less organic. This talk is about the cultural, psychological, economic and sociological implications of these developments. Rather than falling into either utopian or dystopian traps, we will attempt a dispassionate analysis of what is happening. What gets lost in the exchange for the gains of the digital? What do we gain in return?

We will ask the questions surrounding the Death(?) of Privacy, Distance, Center, Time, Tangibility, Books, Classroom, Truth, Conversation, Promise, Choice, Memory and perhaps even the Death of Death itself.

Science Fiction, Film, Art, Engineering and the Halls of Science are engaging with these questions. They can be morbid (Death?) or promising (Birth?). In this talk we will lay down the parameters and perimeters of the issues involved.