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Lecture Series Hosts Technology Philosopher

Clive Thompson
Clive Thompson (photo by Catalina Kulczar)

Oklahoma City University will host technology writer and philosopher Clive Thompson on Sept. 19 for the Martha Jean Lemon Distinguished Speaker Series. Thompson will speak at 7 p.m. in the Bass Music Center’s Petree Recital Hall. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Thompson is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired. He writes about how technology affects everyday life, “from the linguistic style of emoji to the culture of screenshots.”

“In an age where we are constantly consuming information, it is instructive to examine how the round-the-clock flow of data affects our daily lives,” said Amy Cataldi, dean of OCU’s Petree College of Arts and Sciences. “This presentation promises to be thought-provoking and relevant for our current students and the greater community. Thompson speaks from his own experience as well as from decades of tracking the impact of the internet, social media and 24/7 communication.”

A life-long computer buff since the early 1980s, Thompson went to the University of Toronto to study poetry and political science. When he became a magazine writer in the 1990s, the internet erupted into the mainstream and he began reporting on how digital tools were changing society.

Thompson wrote the book “Smarter Than You Think” about the ways technology and the Internet age have impacted society. He has presented at the South by Southwest festival on “The Power of Public Thinking.”

The Martha Jean Lemon Distinguished Speakers Series was established by Dr. Lynette Lemon Wert and Larry H. Lemon on behalf of the Lemon family of Oklahoma City and in honor of their sister, Martha Jean Lemon, who graduated from Oklahoma City University in 1968 with a degree in history and worked as an independent comparative religion scholar. The series features speakers from a wide array of backgrounds and fields of expertise. For more information about the Sept. 19 presentation, call 405-208-5446. The Petree Recital Hall is located in the Wanda Bass Music Center on Blackwelder Avenue and N.W. 25th Street.

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