Is the www eating its children?

The unexpected Brexit decision and, above all, Donald Trump's election victory had caused consternation and shock, said Jörg Heiser, Director of the Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts, author, philosopher and musician. Heiser had invited the audience to discuss the causes of the dramatic situation, which should be seen as a threat to the fundamental values of civil society.

The speakers, including the American philosopher Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, the Dutch philosopher Robin van den Akker, the Polish internet and human rights activist Joanna Bronowicka, the Italian curator Barbara Casavecchia and the London artist Adam Broomberg, analyzed the political developments in their countries and made a connection between social media and the rise of right-wing populism in their observations. The Zurich journalist and economist Hannes Grassegger, who deals with the political instrumentalization of big data and personality-based influencing of social media users, was also invited. Hannes Grassegger, together with co-author Mikael Krogerus, was interviewed by psychologist Michal Kosinski I have only shown that the bomb exists (Link to the article) in the Magazine No. 48 of December 3, 2016, he pointed out a direct connection between social media and Donald Trump's election victory. However, as Grassegger was unable to attend for health reasons, according to the UdK press office, he had named Paul-Olivier Dehaye (mathematician, University of Zurich, and data protection activist) as his representative, who assisted with the research that went into the article for The magazine was significantly involved in the development of the project. For this reason, a Skype conversation on big data and the Trump election took place with Dehaye during the conference.

The dismay expressed at the Berlin conference was not least due to a paradigm shift in the internet. Over the last ten years, the favorite medium of artists and intellectuals has revealed an anti-democratic and anti-enlightenment potential. According to Heiser, it gives the impression that we are in the process of losing the foundations of our social contract, the tools of enlightenment, logic and knowledge, without even realizing it.

In their analyses, the speakers explained that it is social networks, blogs and the like that offer right-wing populists a self-reinforcing resonance space and prepare the ground for right-wing populism, xenophobia and hatred of minorities with blatant lies - fake news - and manipulation. Robin van den Akker analyzed the social media presence of Dutch right-wing populist Geert Wilders. Barbara Casavecchia showed the economic connection between the leader of the Italian Five Star Movement Beppe Grillo and the internet strategist and media mogul Gianroberto Casaleggio. Susan Neiman, a moral philosopher from the USA, showed how self-reinforcing extreme lies such as "Hillary Clinton runs a child pornography ring" are on the internet and in reality.
 

What can artists and intellectuals do in the face of the triumph of right-wing populism? Above all: take the situation seriously. And: get clarity. Demand transparency, especially transparency from internet companies in their handling of big data. Build media literacy. Create independent and trustworthy media. Susan Neiman made a passionate plea for a new morality of communication based on clarity, complexity and responsibility. Robin van den Akker suggested using the means and methods of right-wing populists to build a left-wing or ethical populism.

Are these realistic options for action or rather an expression of helplessness? We don't have to be satisfied with the answers, but it was right that the questions were asked. The alarming tone of the conference is probably appropriate. We are only at the very beginning of using the new technologies and there has been no learning phase.