Techfestival

Clive Thompson is of generation C64 (Commodore 64), and would most likely have become a programmer had his mom not put a ban on video games. Today, Clive has switched out the complex code with idioms and syllables as a contributing writer for The New York Times and Wired. Clive has also authored several books linking tech changes with civic and economic challenges, putting the average human face to face with complex technological development. His most recent book "Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World" gives an insight look into coding culture.

The Efficiency Obsession
In order to understand our rapidly changing world, we must first understand the humans who code it. The notion of the introvert, hoodie-wearing, white, male nerd has manifested itself as society’s stereotypical vision of coders. But who are the actual humans designing the algorithms of our lives? This year, Clive Thompson (CND) is joining Techfestival to scrutinise the coder’s obsession with efficiency. By looking at this core aspect of coding culture, Clive examines how the pursuit of a ‘frictionless’, automated world has begun to cause civic and economic challenges.

Payal Arora (IND) is the author of several books, the most recent one being "The Next Billion Users", an anthropological exploration into user habits in some of the world's poorest communities. She is the co-editor of Crossroads in New media, Identity & Law: The Shape of Diversity to Come (Palgrave, 2015). Much of her research focuses on data governance, media literacy and digital cultures in the Global South. She has published 50 papers in her field and has given 150 presentations across 85 cities in 35 countries, including a TEDx talk on the future of the internet. She has consulted for both the public and private sector including hp, Dutch Brewers, GE, and UNESCO.

The Next Billion Users
Payal Arora (IN), author of “The Next Billion Users”, joins Techfestival to tell us that the reality is much more mundane. That cat videos are universal, and that pornography remains the top internet search term across the globe. Focusing on digital practices, Payal will uncover the real motivation of the new digital users and shine a light on our shared basic needs for leisure time and social connectivity in an online setting.

Chris Messina has spent over 15 years living on the edge of social technology. He has designed products and experiences for Google and Uber, founded startups, and changed the world with many of his creations, including the hashtag (yup, that one #). He co-founded a conversational social AI company (YC’18) and recently became a digital nomad, travelling the world and speaking on social technology, product design, and founder culture and mental fitness.

TBA
Chris joins Techfestival to talk about how we must set ourselves upon creating the technology of better humans — that is, of investing in and creating better versions of ourselves. As a man who himself played a part in drastically changing the internet, Chris will talk about the possible outcomes for the future. Since it will be us — or our children — who will build the next generation of AI companions, Chris believes the only way to bring about the future that we deserve and desire is to start now by changing the culture of founders and makers, in order to have large-scale and lasting, downstream effects. The good news, he says, is that there are some who have already started down this path – and joining in may be easier than you think.