Digital libido – sex, power and violence in the network society
In cooperation with Forum Alpbach Network
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Elisabeth-Herz-Kremenak-Saal
Plenary
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in englischer SpracheSwedish cyberphilosophers A. Bard & J. Söderqvist in their quest to understand basic human nature have observed personal archetypes in isolated tribes to test against big data on internet behavior to co-create data anthropology: a new science that will support a more diverse and resilient society.
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Alexander BARD
Cyberphilosopher and Artist, Stockholm
| Alexander Bard is a Swedish cyberphilosopher, music producer, television star, and highly sought-after international speaker. He has written five books together with media theorist Jan Söderqvist. The first three titles - The Netocrats, The Global Empire and The Body Machines - have also been released together as The Futurica Trilogy and translated to over 20 languages. A fourth book Syntheism - Creating God in The Internet Age was released in 2014 and the autumn of 2018 sees the release of a fifth book Digital Libido - Sex, Power and Violence in The Network Society. Throughout their oeuvre, Bard & Söderqvist construct a brand new metaphysical system for the digital age, covering everything from the inner existential truths of the new physics to the radical utopian potential of participatory culture. | |
| Bard has given lectures on the philosophical, sociological and economic implications of the digital revolution since the late 1990s. Throughout his career, he has been a fundamental force in creating the Swedish music export sensation - making Sweden the world’s biggest per capita music exporter - while promoting a deeper understanding of the full dramatic effects of information-technological disruptions (Sweden being the home of more tech unicorns per capita than anywhere else in the world). Bard certainly believes in practicing what he preaches, being deeply involved as a social entrepreneur in a series a highly successful technology companies and spiritual and political projects. | |
| Bard studied Economic Geography at The Stockholm School of Economics in the 1980s while building a highly successful international career as a songwriter and record producer. In 1992 he co-founded Stockholm Records, which quickly achieved global success - with bands like The Cardigans, A-Teens, and Bard’s own Army of Lovers - before the company was sold to and integrated with Universal Music in 1998. Even though he has claimed to be too busy with cyberphilosophy and political and spiritual activism to find the time for any more songwriting, Bard achieved No. 1 hit records in Europe, Asia and North America as recently as 2013. He is, perhaps unsurprisingly, also a television celebrity in Scandinavia, as the tough judge on the talent shows Swedish Idol and Sweden’s Got Talent." |
Jan SÖDERQVIST
Futurologist and Lecturer, Stockholm
| Jan Söderqvist is a Swedish cyberphilosopher, futurologist and international speaker. Together with Alexander Bard, Jan is the co-author of five books dealing with the digital revolution and how it’s shaping both the present and the future. The works of Jan Söderqvist and Alexander Bard have been translated into more than 20 languages. And counting. | |
| Jan is speaking about how each and every aspect of society - politics, economics, culture, consumption, et cetera - is being fundamentally transformed by the fact that the Internet becomes the dominating communication technology, dictating completely new conditions for how people relate to each other, and thus changing everything. His firm conviction is that in order to be successful in the society that emerges from this violent revolution, you need a fundamental understanding of how it works and what drives it. | |
| In their latest book, Digital Libido (released in August 2018), Jan Söderqvist and Alexander Bard use psychoanalysis to provide a brutally honest analysis of the Internet age and of the consequences of the human psyche confronting tumultuous changes. | |
| Jan Söderqvist has earned a BA in Litterature at Stockholm University. He has worked in every branch of media and as a communication consultant. He is a culture critic at the daily paper Svenska Dagbladet and an editor of the cultural magazine Axess. He lives with his family in Stockholm, Sweden and Lucca, Italy. |
M.Sc. Jakob MÖKANDER
FAN Ambassador, Forum Alpbach Network, New Delhi
| 2009-2014 | Military Service, Engineer Battalion, Boden, Sweden |
| 2010-2015 | International MSc. Industrial Engineering and Management, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden |
| 2015-2017 | Associate, Business Sweden, Vienna, Austria |
| since 2017 | Trade & Invest Advisor, Trade & Invest Council Embassy of Sweden, New Delhi, India |
