Season 2 · Episode 47
40 The Real Silicon Valley, with Fred Turner
How did hippies living on communes help create the Internet? Is Mark Zuckerberg todays PT Barnum? What can we learn from 17th Century Protestantism about inequality in Silicon Valley? Fred Turner, perhaps the definitive historian of the Internet and coun
December 1, 202145m 17s
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Show Notes
How did hippies living on communes help create the Internet? Is Mark Zuckerberg today's PT Barnum? What can we learn from 17th Century Protestantism about inequality in Silicon Valley? Fred Turner, perhaps the definitive historian of the Internet and counterculture, joins us for a thrilling conversation about how we need to shake post-WWII politics to make not just a better Internet, but a better world.
For links to projects mentioned and a full transcript of this episode, please visit https://publicinfrastructure.org/podcast/47-fred-turner
Key takeaways:
1. Communes were insular, and so was the first Internet community created by back-to-land hippies.
2. Silicon Valley's cult of personality follows from Protestants' belief that wealth is a sign of godliness.
3. "Seeing Silicon Valley" documents the inequality that fuels tech with portraits of the rich and poor.
4. We need to reckon with issues of class that started during the Vietnam War.
5. Institutions that bring people to come together despite identity and ideology differences are crucial.