Cory Doctorow is not merely a science fiction author stuck in the realms of his own imagination. No. Cory is also an activist bent on fighting some of the David vs Goliath type of battles of our technological age. Battles we all need to fight. And that is why he often says that science fiction is about the present. [And it is also why Doctorow is my most favorite science fiction persona of his generation.]
Cory gave this talk at the Internet Archive’s Decentralized Web Summit. And, while he is always fantastic, this one must be among his most powerful speeches because in addition to his usual brilliant wit, clarity in detail, logic and argumentation, I also find it very emotionally moving. Check it out and see what you think for yourself.
Doctorow’s Synopsis: This talk, which opened the second half of the day, was about “Ulysses pacts“: bargains you make with yourself when your willpower is strong to prevent giving into temptation later when you are tired or demoralized, and how these have benefited the web to date, and how new, better ones can protect the decentralized web of the future.