Ideas City | Lawrence Lessig | KEYNOTE: Seeing Through the Noise

In the Information Age, we are increasingly dependent on global-network infrastructures that are as invisible as they are vast. These networks dictate the dynamics of decision-making and the shape of power structures, from government records and trading platforms to the seemingly more “democratic” web and social media. How, as citizens, do we relate to the networks, infrastructures, and technologies that underpin urban life today? What role, if any, do they play in promoting justice and accountability, thereby shaping the future of society? How can art and culture encourage awareness of the centrality of data in twenty-first-century life?

Lawrence Lessig, Director, Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, Harvard University