Otherwise Network Salon V: Resist? But How?

Current tech trends dominate not only the gadget parts of our news sources: In the currently popular AI narratives challenge people’s assumptions of whether they’ll be able to make a living in the future or whether a rogue AI might kill us all. Of course many of the takes are overblown at best there is a distinct impression of inevitability: Tech will happen to us if we want it or not. If OpenAI/Microsoft/Google/Meta will it it will become true and politics can merely decide to either get onboard or out of the way.

How do we deal with this feeling of powerlessness? How did tech and the way it sees itself, presents itself and gets seen by entities of power change in the last years? And what are ways for us to resist this seemingly unstoppable machine?

In this salon we’ll talk to Sarah Grant, a media artist based in Berlin who is known for her practice of using for example telecommunication networks as artistic material, social habitats and political landscapes. She’s also the organizer of the Radical Networks conference.

We’ll also be joined by Paris Marx who is the host of the influential Tech Won’t Save Us podcast and who is the author of 2022’s “Road To Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation“.

The panel will be moderated by tante of the Otherwise Network and will leave some time for a Q&A after. The event will be in English and in-person. There will be no stream but potentially a recording.

In order to keep the event as accessible as possible we don’t charge a fixed fee for entrance, the price is “pay as much as you can”. To help us plan for the event we’d appreciate you to register beforehand though it is not required – we’d just like to know how many people to expect.