The concept of digital doppelgangers and loss of control

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The speaker discusses the challenge of managing old online accounts and the difficulty of removing them due to forgotten usernames, passwords, and email addresses. They compare this digital presence to a doppelganger or a golem, highlighting the existence of an online version of oneself that is beyond their control and curated image. This loss of control over the digital self is likened to the ultimate Frankenstein, making the concept of doppelgangers valuable in understanding this phenomenon.

Paris Marx is joined by Naomi Klein to discuss the problems with personal branding pushed social media, how the left’s insufficient response to the pandemic created an opening for the right, and the fight over the roots of Western society that will shape our future.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and a columnist with The Guardian. She is the founding co-director of the UBC Centre for Climate Justice and Professor of Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia. Her newest book is Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

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