Monday, September 23, 2019, 11:30 AM – 1 PM EDT

JAGDISH SHETH, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Emory University

“The Seven Side Effects of the Internet Age”

The major technologies of the last two hundred years (railways, automobiles, telecommunications) were all transformative—in both good and bad ways. Like a potent drug, each has had great benefits, but also problematic side effects. Similarly, the digital technology of our internet age, so beneficial in so many ways, also has its dark side. Jag will discuss its side effects, including the rise of digital addiction (perhaps because so many find the virtual world more appealing than the real world), the emergence of a roommate lifestyle, the shift to a sharing economy (preferred over private ownership of property), and the challenge to existing jurisdictions organized around countries, markets, and currencies. As Jag will explain, the largest nation today isn’t China or India. It’s what he calls “The Facebook Nation”—a virtual place with more than two billion inhabitants and their own (also virtual) currency. Jag will help us consider whether we want to “live” there or not—if we have any choice in the matter at all.