Image - The speaker and detail from his book cover
Silicon Valley

Chris Hayes: The Siren's Call

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We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed utterly: for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as MSNBC host and bestselling author Chris Hayes writes in The Siren’s Call, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.”

Hayes says “attention capitalism” has assaulted our minds and our hearts, and has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society. He argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition whose only parallel is what happened to labor in the 19th century: attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated.

As Hayes writes, “Now our deepest neurological structures, human evolutionary inheritances, and social impulses are in a habitat designed to prey upon, to cultivate, distort, or destroy that which most fundamentally makes us human.”

Join us in Silicon Valley to hear Chris Hayes discuss a single holistic framework that could wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.

Notes

This program is in-person only. 

If you have symptoms of illness (coughing, fever, etc.), we ask that you either stay home or wear a mask. Our front desk has complimentary masks for members and guests who would like one.

Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming.

Attendees subject to search. No large bags or backpacks.

Photo by MSNBC.

All ticket sales are final and nonrefundable.

Mon, Feb 3 / 12:00 PM PST

Cubberley Community Center Theatre
4120 Middlefield Roafd
(near Montrose & Middlefield)
Palo Alto, CA 94306
United States

Speakers
Image - Chris Hayes

Chris Hayes

Host. "All in with Chris Hayes" on MSNBC; Author, The Siren’s Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource; X @chrislhayes

Moderator TBA

Format

11:15 a.m. doors open & check-in
12–1 p.m. program
(all times Pacific Time) 

COST

Members receive 30–50 percent discounts (not a member? Join)

In-person: 
$49 members with a book
$59 nonmembers with a book
$69 members with a book and reserved seating
$79 nonmembers with a book and reserved seating
$8 students (without a book)