Keen On

EPISODE 1918: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bec Evans, co-author of WRITTEN, about how to turn writing into a habit that lastsBec Evans is an award-winning writer, speaker and business founder. With a background in innovation she turned her side hustle into a startup and now helps people make their ideas happen. Her book How to Have a Happy Hustle won its category in the Business Book Awards 2020, and has been reviewed by the Financial Times, The Stylist and Red Magazine and featured on The Lean Startup podcast and at The RSA. nFrom her first job in a bookshop, to a career working in publishing and managing a writing centre for Arvon, Bec is fascinated by what helps writer write. She co-founded Prolifiko and works with publishers, businesses, universities and writing communities to better support authors and content creators. She coaches and support writers of all types offering accountability and productivity advice to overcome blocks and find a writing practice that works in the busyness of their li

EPISODE 1917: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Colin Mayer, author of CAPITALISM AND CRISES, about the social responsibility of business in every industry, from oil to tobacco to AIColin Mayer CBE FBA is Emeritus Professor of Management Studies and Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the European Corporate Governance Institute, an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College and St Anne's College, Oxford, and he has an Honorary Doctorate from Copenhagen Business School. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Playhouse, and was co-chair of the Scottish Government Business Purpose Commission, a member of the UK Government Natural Capital Committee, and the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is th

EPISODE 1916: In our weekly KEEN ON wrap of tech news with Keith Teare, author of  the THAT WAS THE WEEK newletter,  Keith gets out his crystal ball to predict the major political, economic and technological developments for 2024Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously the founder at the Palo Alto incubator, Archimedes Labs. Archimedes was the original incubator for TechCrunch and since 2011 has invested, accelerated or incubated many Silicon Valley startups including Around (sold to Miro), Millicast (Sold to Dolby), InFarm, Miles, Quixey; M.dot (sold to GoDaddy); chat.center; Loop Surveys; DownTown and Sunshine. Teare has a track record as a serial entrepreneur with big ideas and has achieved significant returns for investors.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's be

EPISODE 1915: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Dr. Annie Zimmerman, author of YOUR POCKET THERAPIST, about how therapy can allow to break free from old patterns and transform our livesAnnie Zimmerman is a psychotherapist and TikTok personality, working with clients from a psychodynamic approach. She has a PhD in psychology and has completed her studies at the Guild of Psychotherapists. Her expertise centers on teaching clients how their early lives have formed strategies that might be contributing to unhelpful patterns in adulthood. Currently, she lives in London, where she sees clients from her private practice. You can follow her on TikTok and Instagram @your_pocket_therapist. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIG

EPISODE 1914: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to David Newhoff, the author of WHO INVENTED OSCAR WILDE? about why we don't need GenerativeAI to make good artDavid Newhoff is a writer, communications professional, rights advocate, and entrepreneur. Through Adastra Creative, he has provided creative communications and video production services for clients in multiple sectors. Since 2011, he has been a passionate advocate for the rights of creators and artists, primarily through his blog The Illusion of More. He has written over 1,000 articles on IP and cyber policy issues, and his writing has been cited by professional creators, academics, in testimony before the U.S. Congress, and in one brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. In November 2020, David published his first book, Who Invented Oscar Wilde? : The Photograph at the Center of Modern American Copyright. And in 2021, he co-founded RightsClick, Inc. with attorney/expert Steven Tepp to develop tools to help independent creators manage their copyright rights.N

EPISODE 1913: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to new media artist Eryk Salvaggio who sifts through the debris of an AI age in which we can no longer trust anything we seeEryk Salvaggio is an interdisciplinary design researcher and new media artist. His work explores emerging technologies through a critically engaged lens, testing their mythologies and narratives against their impacts on social and cultural ecosystems. His work, which focuses on generativity and artificial intelligence, often exposes the ideologies embedded into technologies. His work has been curated into film and music festivals, gallery installations, and conferences (such as DEFCON 31 and SXSW). The work interrogates generative AI through a blend of cybernetics, visual culture & media theory, with a critique grounded in resistance and creative misuse, highlighting the gaps that emerge between the analog and digital, such as datasets and the world they claim to represent. Eryk has since worked with partners including AIxDesign’s Stor

EPISODE 1912: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Marzio G. Mian, author of the Harper's piece "Behind the New Iron Curtain", about what it's like to be a Russian these daysMarzio G. Mian is an award-winning correspondent and author. For seven years, he was deputy editor-in-chief of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera's weekly magazine. Mian is now a contributor to Corriere della Sera, Reportagen, Revue XXI, GQ Italia, L'Espresso, RAI TV, SKY Italia, and RSI Swiss Public Radio for cultural, social, and geopolitical topics. He has produced print, video, and audio reports from 56 countries, which included the collapse of communism, the Balkan wars, the enlargement of Europe, and four American presidential campaigns. He co-founded The Arctic Times Project, an international nonprofit, multimedia journalistic association based in the United States and Europe. It focuses on the consequences of climate change in the Arctic region. He also founded The River Journal, a collective multimedia project that deals with

EPISODE 1912: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Michael J. Gerhardt, author of THE LAW OF PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHMENT, about how the threat of impeachment remain indelible stains on the Presidencies of Nixon, Clinton and TrumpMichael J. Gerhardt is Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of North Carolina Law School, resident scholar at the National Constitution Center, and the author of six books, including The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy, whichFinancial Times selected as one of the best non-fiction books of 2013. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is mar

EPISODE 1911: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Rafat Ali, founder & CEO of Skift, about the impact of AI on the travel industry.Rafat Ali is the CEO/Founder of Skift, the largest business intelligence and marketing platform in travel, providing news, information, data, and services to all sectors of the world’s largest industry. Previously, he was the founder/CEO of paidContent and ContentNext, which he sold to UK's Guardian News and Media in 2008, and left in 2010. Prior to that, he was managing editor of Silicon Alley Reporter. Rafat was the Knight Fellow at Indiana University, where he completed his Masters in Journalism, 1999-2000. Prior to that he completed his BSc in Computer Engineering, from AMU in Aligarh, India.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books abo

Tim O’Reilly won’t get fooled again. Or maybe he will. While he is fearful of the winner-take-all nature of current AI economics, he still has some faith that the system can be reformed. So what’s the alternative to the vicious cycles of Silicon Valley capitalism? How can we change the script so that history won’t repeat itself once again?This is the first of a two part conversation with Tim. Please let me know if you want the transcript and I’ll try to post. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1910: In the first part of conversation with the noted tech writer and thinker Tim O'Reilly, Tim explains why OpenAI has an Uber problem and how successful tech companies depend on successful ecosystemsTim O’Reilly is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of O’Reilly Media, the company that has been providing the picks and shovels of learning to the Silicon Valley gold rush for the past thirty-five years. The company delivers online learning, publishes books, and runs conferences about cutting-edge technology, and has a history of convening conversations that reshape the computer industry. If you’ve heard the term “open source software”, “web 2.0”, “the Maker movement”, “government as a platform”, or “the WTF economy”, he’s had a hand in framing each of those big ideas. Tim is also a partner at early stage venture firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV), and on the boards of Code for America, PeerJ, Civis Analytics, and PopVox. He is the author of many technical books published by O’Reilly Media, and most re

This is a conversation with former mobster now mafia historian Louis Ferrante about his intriguing new book BORGATA: RISE OF EMPIRE. The former “chop shop” small time thug now erudite Ferrante is like a cross between Sonny Corleone & Niall Ferguson. Essential viewing/listening. Transcript below.AK (00:18): Hello everybody. It is Tuesday, January the second, 2024. We're in a new year, but old themes. Last year we did several shows on the Mafia, one with the historian Paul Moses on the what he calls, at least the true story of the immigrant cops who fought the rise of the Mafiaa. He had a new book out called Appropriately Enough, the Italian Squad, another with an interesting writer, Matt Beck, the Life We Choose about a series of conversations he had with a Mafiaa member called William Big Belly Delia. He talked about not just Donald Trump and Michael Jackson, but also Jimmy Hoffer, and we're going one better in 2024 rather than writing or talking to people who have spoken to people in the Mafiaa. We have

EPISODE 1909: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Louis Ferrante, author of BORGATA: RISE OF EMPIRE, the meteoric rise of the Cosa Nostra from 1860s Sicily to 1960s AmericaLouis Ferrante is a former Mafia associate and heist expert who served eight years in prison after refusing to incriminate his fellow Gambino family members. His last book, Mob Rules (HarperCollins), was an international bestseller, and his Discovery Channel Series, Inside the Gangsters Code, earned him a Grierson Award nomination for Presenter of the Year.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation

EPISODE 1908: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Alix Olson and Alex Zamalin, co-authors of THE ENDS OF RESISTANCE, about radically new and historically trusted strategies for resisting neo-liberalismAlix Olson is an assistant professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Emory University’s Oxford College. Before her academic career, she toured internationally as a spoken word artist. Olson is the editor of Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution (2007) and is a widely published poet.Alex Zamalin is professor of Africana studies and political science at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. He is the author of six books, including Struggle on Their Minds: The Political Thought of African American Resistance (2017) and Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism (2019), also with Columbia University Press.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addit

Happy New Year everyone!Substack are automating the transcripts now of video interviews. It’s free (at the moment), so no apologies if the transcripts are worthless. But more to come on this front in 2024. I enjoyed listening to Kunzru. Hope you will too. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1907:  In our weekly KEEN ON wrap of tech news with Keith Teare, author of  the THAT WAS THE WEEK newletter,  Keith explains why predicting the future is for fools and looks back at 2023 while refusing to make hard predictions about 2024Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously the founder at the Palo Alto incubator, Archimedes Labs. Archimedes was the original incubator for TechCrunch and since 2011 has invested, accelerated or incubated many Silicon Valley startups including Around (sold to Miro), Millicast (Sold to Dolby), InFarm, Miles, Quixey; M.dot (sold to GoDaddy); chat.center; Loop Surveys; DownTown and Sunshine. Teare has a track record as a serial entrepreneur with big ideas and has achieved significant returns for investors.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongs

EPISODE 1907: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the novelist and Harper's magazine columnist Hari Kunzru, about our nostalgia for vinyl records and the reappearance of ethnic nationalism in Italy.HARI KUNZRU is the author of six novels, Red Pill, White Tears, Gods Without Men, My Revolutions, Transmission, and The Impressionist. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and writes the “Easy Chair” column for Harper’s Magazine. He is an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has been a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Academy in Berlin. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at New York University and is the host of the podcast Into the Zone, from Pushkin Industries. He lives in Brooklyn.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the hos

EPISODE 1906: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Noa Yedlin, author of STOCKHOLM: A NOVEL, explains why literary humor isn't a funny thing and imagines the kind of character Netanyahu might be in a novelNoa Yedlin is an Israeli author, the recipient of the Sapir Prize (the Israeli Man Booker) and the Prime Minister's Literature Award and author of the bestselling House Arrest, Stockholm, People Like Us and The Wrong Book. Yedlin was named by Haaretz Magazine one of "66 Israeli Women You Should Know". Yedlin is also the creator of a two-season TV series based on her bestselling novel Stockholm (the Israeli Best Mini-Series TV Award). A German remake of the series (You Don't Die Among Friends) won Best Scripted Format at 2021 International Format Awards and Best European Series at La Rochelle Festival De La Fiction 2021. The series is now being re-made by SVT Sweden (broadcast: Christmas 2022). Her bestselling novel People Like Us is currently being developed into a series in Israel. A stage adaption of Hous

EPISODE 1905: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Gerard Epstein, author of BUSTING THE BANKERS' CLUB, about why bankers represents both the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of American capitalism and how to create a more equitable financial system for the rest of usGerald Epstein is Professor of Economics and a founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He received his PhD in Economics from Princeton University in 1981. Epstein has written articles on numerous topics including financial crisis and regulation, alternative approaches to central banking for employment generation and poverty reduction, economists’ ethics and capital account management and capital flows and the political economy of financial markets and institutions. Most recently his research has focused on the impacts of financialization (Gerald Epstein, ed. Financialization and the World Economy, Elgar Press, 2005), alternatives to inflation targeting (Gerald Epstein and Erinc Ye

EPISODE 1904: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Charles Crowson, author of JAM TOMORROW?, about why time really matters in economicsCharles Crowson is a finance professional with over twenty years’ experience in the investment industry. Having spent a decade running the London office of a large, US event-driven hedge fund, he has more recently been involved in asset management, working as a global macro portfolio manager. Charles’ career has spanned the dotcom crash, the global financial crisis and the subsequent Eurozone crisis, as well as the more recent 2020 Covid crash and subsequent stock-market bubble. Charles publishes a bi-weekly blog (Market Depth) aimed at explaining the complexities and nuances of developments in global economics and markets for readers from a non-expert background.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To F