Skip to main content

Democracy in the Digital Age: Jamie Susskind

5 March 2020
6.30pm – 7.30pm AEDT
Leighton Hall, John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW Sydney
This event has ended
Photo of Jamie Susskind

It is one of the most important questions of our time: how will digital technology transform society and the way we govern?

There is no doubt that technological advances have transformed our lives for the better. There is little doubt too, argues bestselling author Jamie Susskind, that digital systems have the potential to control us. 

In his ground-breaking analysis, Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech, Susskind calls for a fundamental change in the way we think about politics in the digital age. Reminding us of the very real ability of digital technology to shape the way we think, feel and behave, Susskind puts forward a clear warning: those who control these technologies will increasingly control us all. 

Chaired by Rosalind Dixon, Professor of Law at UNSW Sydney.

This event is presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and is a part of the UNSW Grand Challenge on Trust. Supported by Adelaide Writers' Week.


Access

Wheelchair Accessible

Leighton Hall is located inside the John Niland Scientia Building at UNSW Sydney's Kensington campus, G19 on this map (PDF). If you are traveling via the University Mall, there is a lift to the right of the large set of steps at the John Niland Scientia Building. There is ramp access to Leighton Hall via the Scientia Lawn. You can be dropped off close to this ramp. Vehicles need to arrive via Botany street, Gate 11 and drive down Library Walk. The closest accessible parking is available in the Barker Street Parking Station (N18 on map). 

Hearing Loop Available

Auslan

The Centre for Ideas can provide Auslan interpreting services for selected talks upon request. 

Contact

For event enquires or to discuss your access requirements, please call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9385 9844 or email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au

The Centre for Ideas is happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for 02 9385 9844. Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 02 9385 9844. Internet relay users, visit relayservice.gov.au, then ask for 02 9385 9844.

Speakers
Jamie Susskind

Jamie Susskind

Jamie Susskind is an author, speaker, and practising barrister. A past Fellow of Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, he studied history and politics at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating first in his year before turning to the law. He is the author of the award-winning Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech, an Evening Standard Book of the Year, a Prospect Book of the Year, and a Guardian Book of the Day. Future Politics was also awarded the 2019 Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize. Susskind writes and speaks about technology – from AI to blockchain, robotics, and virtual reality – and politics. He speaks globally about the future of power, freedom, justice, and democracy, and has written for The New York Times, Wired, and New Statesman.

Photo of Rosalind Dixon

Rosalind Dixon

Rosalind Dixon is a Professor of Law and Director of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at UNSW Sydney. She is a graduate of UNSW and Harvard, and has taught at law schools around the world – including Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago and National University Singapore, and is the author of a new book, with Richard Holden, From Free to Fair Markets: Liberalism after COVID out later this year. She is passionate about law and politics, and currently Director of the Pathways to Politics for Women Program at NSW.