The other Prometheus, about forgetting and moving on
The talk is cancelled due to illness of Kristinn Hrafnsson.
The mythical figure Prometheus gave mortal man the gift of forgetting the day when he will die. This not knowing brought calm to the human world. Today we live in a knowledge-based society, with the illusion of absolute science and total transparency. At the heart of the digital revolution is the creation of gigantic memories that forget nothing. In their performance Book Burning, Hans Op de Beeck and Pieter De Buysser also look at the darker side of this absolute knowledge and transparency.
The other Prometheus, an afternoon of debate and discussion, looks at one of these themes in greater depth. In order to understand the world, humans need two things: on the one hand they need to be in possession of the facts about what is going on, and on the other they need a mythology that enables them to give meaning to the facts. With regard to the facts: we feel the need to filter their sheer quantity and to discover how accurate they are. Creating a myth involves finding a framework that helps us to make sense of the facts, gives our lives purpose, and opens up new ways of imagining a future world. Pieter De Buysser et Hans Op de Beeck will explore this topic in a discussion with Kristinn Hrafnsson, spokesman for WikiLeaks and the number two of the organization founded by Julian Assange.
