The book tells the story of Dr. Ruja Ignatova, who orchestrated a massive pyramid scheme through the cryptocurrency OneCoin, promising financial freedom and a technical revolution. The scheme, which combined multi-level marketing and cryptocurrency mania, resulted in billions of dollars in losses for investors. The book follows Jamie Bartlett's globe-crossing investigation into the criminal underworlds, corrupt governments, and the super-rich involved in this scam. It highlights the dangers of such schemes and the thorough research that uncovered the inner workings and motives behind OneCoin.
In this book, Jamie Bartlett argues that the unchecked growth of big tech is eroding the foundations of democracy. He contends that the middle class is being eroded, sovereign authority and civil society are weakened, and citizens are losing their critical faculties and possibly their free will. Bartlett identifies six key pillars of democracy—active citizens, shared democratic culture, free elections, stakeholder equality, competitive economy and civic freedom, and trust in authority—and explains how technology is undermining each of these. He provides twenty practical suggestions for how to save democracy from the negative impacts of technology, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that does not reject technology entirely but ensures it serves democratic values[1][5][4].
In this episode of Intelligence Squared, head of programming Conor Boyle speaks with author and tech expert Jamie Bartlett about how podcasting, video and social media have transformed modern politics and public discourse. Bartlett unpacks the role of podcasters in shaping new political narratives and how our online information ecosystem is designed in a way that perfectly suits digital populism and political figures like Donald Trump.
To hear more from Jamie Bartlett subscribe to his Substack, How To Survive The Internet.
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