In his presentation, Mike Pepi provided an overview of key concepts in tech criticism, distinguished between the concepts of platforms and institutions, and called for us to address the neck of the “hydra”-like issue of digital utopianism. Platforms, the dominant architecture of Silicon Valley technology, promise an experience of convenience, social connection, and accessibility, but are beholden to market forces that optimize for speed, scale, and efficiency over any human value. When platforms are presented as alternatives to established institutions — for example, social media over journalism and ridesharing over taxis — they “disrupt” and hollow out those existing structures and all that they had protected. What if institutions could serve as “encasements” for technologies, rather than be dismantled by them? What values and system of funding would we need to support this vision? In an optimistic turn, Mike forecasts the return of institutions as we work to build technologies that reinforce and serve humanist goals.
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Join tech worker, critic, and author Mike Pepi in a talk and Q&A about his book Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia.
What beliefs inform the design of digital technologies that characterize today’s social, political, and cultural life?
In Against Platforms, Mike Pepi argues that platform technologies such as social media networks and two-sided marketplaces like Uber and DoorDash were built upon a fusion of digital utopian, techno-determinist, and free-market capitalist ideologies. In particular, the digital utopian ideologies promised more democratic and egalitarian social relations, bypassing hierarchy and allowing anyone to have an equal voice. Pepi reminds us: “this utopia, like all utopias, doesn’t really exist.”
The key issues, Pepi argues, are not inherently digital tools, algorithms, or their developers, but the social arrangements in which the technologies are deployed. The principles of Silicon Valley — speed, scale, efficiency — optimize away human discernment under the guise of convenience. What is lost?
As the gap between the utopian promises of platforms and reality widens, Pepi calls for a revitalization of institutions: social structures that protect the “necessary inefficiencies” and slow down the “clock speed” to allow for the pursuit of clear, productive goals with dignity. In this progressive paradigm against platforms, engineers, artists, and designers will unravel the old myths and build a new digital era for institutions.
Free and open to the public, reception to follow—please RSVP to secure your meal. On-site book sales available via The MIT Press Bookstore.
Access Information
This event will include audiovisual content such as presentation slides. There is first-come first-serve seating and standing room. Food options will include vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. Please indicate in the RSVP form if you have additional access needs or email at radius@mit.edu.
For members of the public / non-MIT affiliates: A greeter will be present outside the Memorial Drive entrance to Hayden Library to help guide visitors to the event from 4:45—5:15 PM. Hayden Library (in Building 14) can also be accessed from inside the MIT main campus building which is open to the public from 6 AM-7 PM on weekdays.
