Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2012 about Philosophy and Politics

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Saturday 10th March 2012

• The Wars of Tech

  by Steven Levy

  It's easy to get caught up with the horse races of Facebook versus Google or Microsoft versus Apple or record labels versus the Internet. But in nearly 30 years of covering technology I find that the major conflicts are those of philosophy, politics and power. You could almost view the past few decades as a spectacular cycle of fantasy novels with the Hacker Spirit as the protagonist and amazing supporting characters including Steve Jobs, Richard Stallman, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Stephen Wolfram, Whitfield Diffie, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg (all of whom I've spent considerable time interviewing.) And as our lives are more intertwined with the giant digital shift, these conflicts are ever more vital. Here's an attempt to deconstruct a revolution--and point to what's ahead.

  • Philosophy
  • Politics
  • Power
  • revolution

  At 5:00pm to 6:00pm, Saturday 10th March

  In Ballroom D, Austin Convention Center

  Coverage sketch note