WSU Lecture to Examine Digital Culture’s Impact on Politics
OGDEN, Utah – The author of the recently released book, “Know-It-All Society: Arrogance, Politics and our Digital Culture,” will 
discuss his work at Weber State University, Oct. 10 at noon in the Lindquist Hall Haven J. Barlow Lecture Hall (LH 101). The event is free and open to the public.
Michael Lynch will examine the idea of intellectual arrogance dominating our online relationships and distorting our understanding of facts.
“If you spend more than five minutes on social media these days, you get the definite sense that Americans on different sides of the political spectrum don’t like each other very much,” Lynch has written. “Recent data shows that we increasingly regard the other party as stubborn, arrogant and ignorant. But maybe both sides have a point. Maybe we are all, to some extent, know-it-alls, and that’s part of the problem.”
Lynch is the Humanities Institute director and a professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, as well as the author of several books including, “The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data” and “True to Life.” His work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Washington Post. He also presented a TED Talk in 2017.
Lynch will also explore how lessons from ancient philosophers, such as Socrates, have the power to restore truth and curiosity as democratic values.
The Seventh Annual Distinguished Lecture in Philosophy is sponsored by WSU’s philosophy program. The topic is meant to encourage open dialogue on the state of political discourse in the country and to help people learn about the impact digital culture has on politics and society.
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Shaylee Stevens, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7948 • shayleestevens@weber.edu- Contact:
Robert Fudge, philosophy professor
801-626-7046 • robertfudge@weber.edu