SILICON VALLEY DOESN'T BUILD THINGS: GIDEON LICHFIELD WILL SPEAK AT EMERGE 2020
3 MIN READ, MAY 12, 2020
We are very excited to announce that Gideon Lichfield - the Editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review, the leading global magazine about emerging technologies and science, will speak at EMERGE at our FUTURE stream. The stream will be dedicated to the various #lifeafter COVID-19 scenarios: are we going back to roots or what will be the 'new normal'? Register for FREE here.
Covid's Next Victim: Silicon Valley
''We're not going back to normal,'' echoing like a mantra almost everywhere nowadays. Indeed, COVID-19 has already influenced us on different levels - human, society and planet, and it's rather important to raise the question of how life will look after the pandemic. Our keynote speaker Gideon will share his thoughts supported with facts about the future of Silicon Valley as an innovation tech hub and why it's the next COVID's victim.
In our decades of infatuation with Silicon Valley, we ignored what the pandemic has now made clear: the Valley doesn't build things. It produces software that makes life more convenient and efficient, but it doesn't help update aging infrastructure, tackle climate change, make food supplies more sustainable... or fight pandemics. And the products it does make are contributing to the problems of misinformation and political paralysis that are making covid harder to overcome. The Valley was already reeling from the "techlash"; now, Gideon will argue, covid will accelerate its decline, and other global hubs will become the centers of opportunity for developing the solutions our world really needs.
In our decades of infatuation with Silicon Valley, we ignored what the pandemic has now made clear: the Valley doesn't build things. It produces software that makes life more convenient and efficient, but it doesn't help update aging infrastructure, tackle climate change, make food supplies more sustainable... or fight pandemics. And the products it does make are contributing to the problems of misinformation and political paralysis that are making covid harder to overcome. The Valley was already reeling from the "techlash"; now, Gideon will argue, covid will accelerate its decline, and other global hubs will become the centers of opportunity for developing the solutions our world really needs.
Gideon Lichfield, Editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review
Gideon Lichfield has been the Editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review since December 2017. Before that, he spent 16 years at The Economist, first as a science and technology writer and then in postings to Mexico City, Moscow, Jerusalem, and New York City. In 2012 he left to become one of the founding editors of Quartz, a news outlet dedicated to covering the future of the global economy that is now widely recognized as one of the most innovative companies in digital media. Gideon has also taught journalism at New York University and been a fellow at Data & Society, a research institute devoted to studying the social impacts of new technology. Gideon's mission for MIT Technology Review is to be the leading voice on emerging technology, its impacts, and the human choices that lie behind it.
Don't miss a unique chance to address your question to Gideon during the Q&A session at FUTURE stage! Sign up for your FREE coach potato ticket right now!
ILONA BELIATSKAYA
Contributing Author, EMERGE
Researcher in travel tech and travel enthusiast. Ilona is an advocate of women in science and tech. Addicted to coffee.
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