On April 24th, about a month before his book "Digital Degrowth" comes out, we are joined by Professor Neil Selwyn (Monash University, Lund University) for a talk titled "Digital degrowth ... perhaps //not// the worst idea on the planet?" Coming from the tech Education angle, Neil has for the past 30 years researched the integration of digital technology into schools, universities and adult learning. He is recognised as a leading international researcher in the area of digital education and is currently working on nationally-funded projects examining the roll-out of educational data and learning analytics, AI technologies, and the changing nature of teachers' digital work.

Abstract:

In 2020, Wired magazine declared degrowth to be "the worst idea on the planet". Three years later, Marc Andreessen called out degrowth as a "bad idea" and an "enemy" to technological progress. Taking inspiration from Andrew Ahern’s observation that "degrowth pisses off all the right people", Neil Selwyn considers what degrowth and post-growth thinking might have to offer those looking to radically break away from the destructive modes of digital excess that have come to define the first few decades of the twenty-first century. In short, this talk considers a deceptively simple question - how might degrowth thinking support ambitions of sustainable, scaled-down and equitable ways of living with digital technologies?

After first sketching out what a philosophy of digital degrowth might look like, this talk will lay out various instances where alternate post-capitalist forms of digital technology are already being realized around the world. It also highlights a range of emerging ideas, innovations and experiments that point to possible future forms of "radically sustainable computing". While we should not be naive about the difficulties of any such change, Neil concludes that solid foundations already are in place from which to establish digital degrowth as a social movement that is locally determined and aligned with a wider societal decoupling from economic growth and capitalist imperatives.

Where: AUD 3 and online via teams link on ccit.itu.dk/seminar-series
When: April 24th from 12.00 – 13.00

Image credits: United States Geographical Survey