"The Enshittification of Everything (and what to do about it)" keynote talk

Name: "The Enshittification of Everything (and what to do about it)" keynote talk
Start: 2025-09-12T15:00:00-04:00
Location: Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States

Schedule

Fri, 12 Sep, 2025 at 03:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States | Ithaca, NY

Keynote by Cory Doctorow, A.D. White Professor-at-Large
"The Enshittification of Everything (and what to do about it)"
Friday, Sept. 12, at 3:00pm
Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium (Rm. 132)
Goldwin Smith Hall
Open to all. Light reception to follow.
Livestream: ecornell.cornell.edu/keynotes/overview/K091225/
Abstract:
It's not your imagination: the internet *suuuucks* now. The enshittification of our digital world isn't the result of great historical forces or iron laws of economics - it's caused by specific policy choices, made in living memory, by named individuals. The bad news is, *everything* is getting enshittified. The good news is: we are not prisoners to the depraved foolishness of early 21st century policymakers. We can - we must - break free of the prison they built for us, consigning their terrible ideas to history's scrapheap so we can create a new, good internet that is fit to serve as the digital nervous system of this fraught century.
Doctorow visits both the Ithaca (Sept. 12-18) and Cornell Tech (Sept. 19) campuses as a Professor-at-Large. Cosponsored by Dept. of History and Dept. of Science & Technology Studies.
Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently PICKS AND SHOVELS and THE BEZZLE (followups to RED TEAM BLUES) and THE LOST CAUSE, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His most recent nonfiction book is THE INTERNET CON: HOW TO SEIZE THE MEANS OF COMPUTATION, a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include RED TEAM BLUES, a science fiction crime thriller; CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the LITTLE BROTHER series for young adults; IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; and the picture book POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Full bio.
Photo credit: Copyright Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud (JUCO), www.jucophoto.com/, Creative Commons Attribution