Die Silicon Valley Ideologie

In the organizer's words:

With: Laura Hille

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Criticism of Silicon Valley has never been louder or more diverse than it is today. At the same time, the power of tech companies and the influence of their CEOs remains unbroken. With Trump's second term in office and the current AI hype, it has even grown. The tech oligarchy has thus achieved what it has been preparing for years: The takeover of central institutions, infrastructures and discursive power. The lecture provides an overview of the ideologies of Silicon Valley and shows how accelerationism is shaping current designs for the future. Taking a critical look at red-pill jargon, fascist aesthetics, alt-right politics and colonization fantasies, the event will focus on the construction plans of investors and tech billionaires. They are not only interested in tax evasion, but also in more radical ways out: floating city states, private islands, bunkers, new civilizations on Mars, in cyborg bodies or even virtual worlds. The lecture identifies and criticizes the ideologies on which these and similar urban visions are based.

Laura Hille is a sociologist and media scientist who writes and speaks about all things digital. She currently works as a research assistant at the University of Siegen. In her teaching, she deals with the dark sides of our digital everyday life and the power relations that shape it. In recent years, she has followed the dystopian and utopian visions of the future of Silicon Valley.