THE INFORMATION SOCIETY: A History of the Future - Cybersalon February 22, 2006

his lecture is a history of the future. It will show how our contemporary understanding of the Net is shaped by a forty-year-old prophecy. During the Cold War, the rulers of America appropriated the ideas of Marshall McLuhan for the propaganda struggle against its Russian rival. The USA was building the next stage of human civilisation the information society and the rest of the world would have to follow its path into the networked future. As the owner of time, America controlled space. In 1968, the Vietnamese demonstrated the fallacies of this hi-tech ideology to the global TV audience. Yet, in 2006, were still being told that the Net is creating the information society and America today is everywhere else tomorrow. If we dont want the future to be what it used to be, we must invent our own future.

Join us at this special event with Dr. Richard Barbrook (Westminster University and Cybersalon), author of the book Imaginary Futures which can be found at . The main lecture will be followed by an open discussion with the audience.

Further information about this and other BCS activities is available via the website, else via email to Branch Chairman Dalim Basu: .

Event submitted by Eventful on behalf of cubicgarden.