<nettime-ann> 'Cybercultural' debates in 1964

As part of the research seminar series at the Institute of North American Studies at King's College London, Caroline Bassett, Reader in Media and Film, Sussex University will be talking on:

‘The Philosopher, the Socialite, the Engineers, and the Spy: 'Cybercultural' debates in 1964’

Cyberculture is said to have been invented sometime in the 1980s, but in New York in 1964, an unlikely group of including computer scientists, engineers, philosophers, NAACP representatives, feminists, civil rights activists, government workers, Labor leaders, entrepreneurs, and at least one spy, assembled in New York City to debate 'cybercultural revolution' - and in particular the leisure society and the future of work. Amongst them was Hannah Arendt. This paper returns to the debate via interviews with the organizer and via Arendt's work on leisure. Exploring this nexus the intention is to supplement histories of digital culture focussing on the West Coast and Silicon Valley and the counter-culture by exploring the early responses of organized labour and critical thinkers to the prospect of a digital society.

Date: 5pm-6.30pm, 27th Feb.

Venue: K4U.12, Strand Campus, King's College London.

All welcome - no need to book.

Dr Clare Birchall
Senior Lecturer in the Institute for North American Studies, King's College, London.

www.kcl.ac.uk/instituteofnorthamericanstudies