CLEAR, BRIGHT FUTURE

PAUL MASON

CLEAR, BRIGHT FUTURE
A RADICAL DEFENCE OF HUMANISM

Imagine handing over control of large parts of your life to a computer programme that is said to regulate coexistence more effectively than any state. What may seem unthinkable to many turns out to be a bitter reality if you replace »computer programme« with »market«. While capitalism used to go hand in hand with liberal freedoms, under rulers such as Putin or Trump it is taking on increasingly authoritarian traits. If they are now also able to utilise the possibilities of artificial intelligence and digital surveillance, humans as autonomous beings are in danger.
In order to save the values of the Enlightenment for the future, Paul Mason presents a radical defence of humanism. Drawing on Karl Marx's early writings, he sketches a picture of man as both a self-determined and communal being. Mason takes us to the sites of past and present struggles for dignity and justice, from the Paris Commune to austerity-stricken Greece and the protests of indigenous activists on the archipelago of New Caledonia. According to Mason, the heirs of the women and men on the barricades of yesteryear are the networked individuals of today.

Moderator: Robert Misik, author and journalist

Paul Mason, born in Leigh in 1960, is an English author and award-winning television journalist. He worked for many years for the BBC and Channel 4 News and writes regularly for the Guardian.

The event will be held in English.

Paul Mason: Clear, bright future. A radical defence of humanism
Translated from the English by Stephan Gebauer
Suhrkamp, May 2019, ISBN: 978-3-518-42860-3; 28,80 €