“By poetic technologies I refer to the use of rational and technical means to bring wild fantasies to reality. Poetic technologies, so understood, are as old as civilization.” — David Graeber
We are pleased that Cory Doctorow and Brian Eno will join us to discuss poetic technologies on December 8, 2025.
Cory Doctorow has worked for a long time at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, advocating for digital human rights. An excellent science fiction writer, blogger, and journalist, he also coined the term ‘enshittification’, which really captures how all of us have experienced the decay of online platforms and services.
Brian Eno is one of the world’s most creative and inspiring musicians, visual artists, thinkers, and activists. A founding member of the British band Roxy Music, he coined the term “ambient music” and is a pioneer of electronic and generative music. He founded the Long Foundation and has been an important activist and advocate for human rights worldwide, whether it is the genocide in Gaza or divisive politics in the UK.
Their talk will be a public hybrid event — both offline and online — streamed live across all our platforms and social media channels. We have a broad audience on Twitter (X), Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook, and the conversation will be streamed simultaneously on all of them. The recording will also be made available online.
James Schneider and Nika Dubrovsky will join us from the West Indies University in St. Vincent in the Caribbean, where we’re currently building a Spirulina farm inside a prison and setting up a 3D printer lab. The discussion will explore social technologies — how technology and social relations shape each other. This project is part of our broader public outreach, linking conversation and theory with practical projects and artistic initiatives. Our next similar project is scheduled to take place in East Africa next year.The link to the live stream will be published soon.
Featured image Le Sortie de l’opéra en l’an 2000 (Albert Robida, 1902), in text showing a Phenakistoscope (1833) Images sourced from the Public Domain Image Archive / Library of Congress