John's private podcast feed ~ betaworks events & things I'm listening to.. enjoy đź‘‚ Designing Freedom #4: Stafford Beer, 1973 Massey Lectures
8 snips
Dec 22, 2025 
Stafford Beer, a pioneering cybernetician and management scientist, delivers profound insights into societal and technological dynamics. He shares an anecdote illustrating public fear of automation, critiques how science has been misrepresented as serving people, and links consumerism to social alienation. Advocating for democratic control of technology, he emphasizes the need for citizens to specify their own tech uses and adapt educational systems. Beer warns of the perils of variety overload on understanding complex issues, calling for a reevaluation of freedom through personalized technology.
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Airport Computer Humiliation
- A man at an airport claimed his airline had no computer after a clerk blamed a computer for an error.
- The incident shows how the computer had become a cultural juju and source of public fear.
Science Fueled Alienation
- Science marketed as efficiency and labor-saving has produced alienation and conspicuous consumption.
- This use of science destroys human joy and deepens inequality worldwide.
Give Citizens Control Over Science
- Remove control of science and technology from financiers and vest it in the people via democratic channels.
- Debunk the mystery around scientific work and start specifying what science should do for citizens.
