The Third Information Crisis by Naomi Alderman 

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The Third Information Crisis by Naomi Alderman: A Wonderful Catastrophe

Naomi Alderman argues we are living through the third great information crisis.

The Third Information Crisis by Naomi Alderman

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After writing and printing, Naomi Alderman argues that digital communication has brought about the third great information crisis.

In this wide-ranging series, award-winning novelist Naomi Alderman, author of The Power and The Future, argues we are living through the third great information crisis. Following the invention of writing, and then printing, we now have digital communications technology. In what she describes as a 'speculative historical project', Naomi traces the parallels between these moments, asking if we can learn from the past to help us cope with the 'enormous wave of information'  from the internet and social media that we are all faced with today. Drawing on the work of philosophers and historians, she explores the way new technologies open up new ways of thinking and their enormous impact on our society.

A Wonderful Catastrophe

BBC Radio 4 - The Third Information Crisis by Naomi Alderman, A Wonderful Catastrophe

How can we cope with the challenges of digital communication?

Naomi asks how best we can flourish as digital communication changes our world.

In this final episode  Naomi Alderman explores the opportunities offered by this current information crisis, how it could expand our minds and our world.   What, she asks,  are the positive impacts of this super-fast flow of facts and knowledge?     While we may face some short term turbulence, Naomi believes ‘we are trying to do something extraordinary as a species’ and it’s this that gives her hope.

Written and read by Naomi Alderman. Produced by Di Speirs and Nicola Holloway

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The Third Information Crisis by Naomi Alderman

A Wonderful Catastrophe

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