About this class

In the agricultural, industrial, and information revolutions, perhaps the three great turning points in human civilization, humanity has seen undeniable progress. But we have also seen new challenges.

The revolution in how we learned to exploit plants and animals for food production brought inequalities in many parts of the world. The Industrial Revolution began the process of climate change that has become an emerging crisis for us all.

We might call it civilization’s two-edged sword, the “paradox of progress”, in the words of William McNeill, the pioneering world historian.

When technological advancement began to accelerate in the twentieth century, the dream behind the Information Revolution that followed was more connection, more openness, tolerance, a freer and more equal humanity. But the challenges this has brought, made more complex by the sheer number of those who wish to take advantage of these technologies for their own profit or control, may be threatening in lasting ways all that seemed possible.

The conflict over how to protect our freedoms and our security is familiar to us all. To what extent should we be concerned about online abuse and criminal activity? What steps should we be taking to protect ourselves at a time when the world’s largest social media platform has accelerated its development of a “metaverse”?

Our guest, Yaniv Levyatan, from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, is a leading educator, researcher, and consultant on psychological warfare, social media addiction, and cybercrime and cybersecurity.

Host

Lon Appleby, Durham College

Founder, Professor

Guests

Dr. Yaniv Levyatan, Technion Israel Institute of Technology

Lecturer and Strategic Consultant

Resources