Science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow will visit Cornell Sept. 11-19 as an A.D. White Professor at Large, taking part in several events hosted by the Departments of Science and Technology Studies and History in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity and Cornell Tech. Highlights include an A.D. White Professor-at-Large public keynote Sept. 12; a Q&A Sept. 16; the 2025 Nordlander Lecture in Science & Public Policy Sept. 18; and appearances at Ithaca book stores.
“An internationally renowned fiction writer, technology blogger and public intellectual, Cory Doctorow is also recognized in the world of digital media as a technology activist,” said Raymond Craib, the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History (A&S). “His expertise runs a remarkable gamut, from technology and AI to science fiction, from the recent history of capitalism to public policy and blogging. His writing – whether fiction or non-fiction – sits on the cusp of where we are now and where we may be going.”
Doctorow is among the most important current writers and thinkers about the internet, computing and technology, said Suman Seth, a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and Marie Underhill Noll Professor of the History of Science. Doctorow’s focus on computing technologies – their social construction, their uses, and their meanings – resonates with much of the work done in the past two decades by Cornell faculty in science and technology studies and other departments, Seth said.
Doctorow’s Sept. 12 keynote takes place at 3 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, 132 Goldwin Smith Hall. He will draw on his forthcoming book “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It,” available from Verso on Oct. 14, discussing why “the internet suuuuucks” right now, and how we can create a new, more fitting “digital nervous system of this fraught century.”
“Like many others, I have found his comments about the ‘enshittification’ of the internet both humorous and insightful,” Seth said. “His neologism captures the capitalistic logics that tend to ruin good online spaces, which start off with those in charge being good to their users.”
Doctorow will focus on his fiction during “Radicalized,” a Q&A that’s part of the Milstein Program’s M Studio speaker series, Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. in Milstein Auditorium, Milstein Hall. Doctorow and a panel of Cornell faculty members – Seth, Craib and Milstein program director Roger Moseley (A&S) – will discuss Doctorow’s collection of four novellas connected by social, technological and economic visions of today and what America could be in the future. “Radicalized,” a novella in Doctorow’s 2019 collection, is about a man who becomes enraged at insurance CEOs and makes alliances with a group of men plotting acts of retribution against health care executives. After the Dec. 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, it’s been hailed as remarkably prescient.
“It is a really excellent story and also touches on how men become radicalized through on-line communities,” Craib said.
During the 2025 Nordlander Lecture Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. in Physical Sciences Building 120, Doctorow will reprise the ideas from his A.D. White keynote, focusing on his new book. A reception follows from 7:15-8 p.m. in Baker Portico.
Throughout his visit to Ithaca, Doctorow will spend time with students, faculty and classes, also making community appearances including: launching the Ithaca is Books Festival Sept. 11 at Buffalo Street Books at 6 p.m.; and doing a talkback session at Autumn Leaves Books on Sept. 12 at 4 p.m.
On Sept. 19, he will visit the Cornell Tech campus as part of the A.D. White Professors-at-Large Program.
In addition to the forthcoming “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It,” Doctorow is the author of dozens of books, including the novels “Picks and Shovels” and “The Bezzle.” Other notable books include “Walkaway” and “The Lost Cause;” the tech policy books “The Internet Con” and “Chokepoint Capitalism;” the YA “Little Brother” series; and the picture book “Poesy the Monster Slayer.” In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
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