Nov. 24 – Franco Bernardi, Italian writer and philosopher, will be the guest of honor at the Biennale de Montréal, where he will give a lecture in English on “The pre-emption of the future and the automation of cognitive life: iWatch, Googleglass and similar neuro-totalitarian techniques.” The conference will be held today at 7pm at Concordia University. Franco Berardi, aka Bifo, is an Italian writer and philosopher with a long history of cultural activism. He graduated in Aesthetics and adhered to Potere Operaio, a leftist extra-parliamentary group, and became a prominent figure at the national level. In 1970, Berardi published his first book, Contro il lavoro. In 1975, he founded the magazine A/traverso, the creative branch of the Bologna-based movement born in 1977. In 1976, Berardi participated in the foundation of the free radio station Radio Alice. At the end of the 1980s, he moved to California where he published several essays on cyberpunk. He currently writes for Liberazione, Alfabeta2, Rekombinant and Through Europe. He also collaborates with the Canadian magazine Adbusters.
