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In books, articles, posts, classes, and talks, David Weinberger, Ph.D. explores the effect of technology — especially AI and the Internet — on our ideas about ourselves, our world, and business. Since 2016 he has focused his attention on the philosophical implications of AI.

In five books and countless posts and articles David has explored the effect of the Internet and AI on knowledge, on how we organize our ideas, and on the core concepts by which we think about our world. His latest book, "Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We're Thriving in a New World of Possibility" (Harvard Business Review Press) argues that AI and the Internet are transforming our understanding of how the future happens, enabling us to acknowledge the chaotic unknowability of our everyday world. — a Copernican-scale change in our self-understanding. His other books include 2000's best-selling The Cluetrain Manifesto (co-author) that foretold the the social nature of the Internet, Small Pieces Loosely Joined about the effect of the Web's architecture on our ideas, Everything is Miscellaneous about the wholesale changes in how we organize ideas things and ideas, and Too Big to Know about the fate of knowledge. Currently an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center, he began as a Fellow in 2004, and has been a senior researcher, and member of the Fellows Advisory Board at the Center. 

With a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Toronto), and with decades of experience in the tech industry, he has been a co-director of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, and a journalism fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center. He has also been an executive and adviser to innovative high tech companies, as well as to presidential campaigns, and a Franklin Fellow at the U.S. State Department. He recently spend four years embedded as a writer-in-residence in Google Responsible AI groups. He currently edits the Strong Ideas open access book series for MIT Press. For more information, his home page is https://weinberger.org which includes a link to his writings


Projects & Tools

Past

Media Re:public

Media Re:public is a research project that examines the current and potential impact of participatory news media.


Publications

Publication
Sep 30, 2015

Fifteen Lessons from the Berkman Fellows Program

This report explores what makes the Berkman Fellows program successful and aims to derive lessons that can be applied to other institutions. 

Apr 30, 2007

Everything is Miscellaneous

The Power of the New Digital Disorder

Amazon.com Editorial Review: Human beings are information omnivores: we are constantly collecting, labeling, and organizing data. But today, the shift from the physical to the…

May 12, 2005

Tagging and Why It Matters

Tagging has become the latest craze among the digerati. While it certainly has been hyped, there are reasons to think it is not only going to go mainstream, it will have effects…

May 5, 2003

Small Pieces Loosely Joined

A Unified Theory of the Web

Book Description from Amazon:. In this insightful social commentary, David Weinberger goes beyond misdirected hype to reveal what is truly revolutionary about the Web. Just as…

Jan 9, 2001

The Cluetrain Manifesto

The End of Business as Usual

Book Description, from Amazon: From four of the liveliest personalities on the Web comes a provocative, outrageous, and wickedly smart account of what it will take to prosper…


News

Pair Code
Sep 17, 2018

Playing with AI Fairness

In this post, David Weinberger explores artificial intelligence and the concept of fairness.

News
Jul 2, 2018

Clearly Complex

A report from the Symposium on Trust and Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles (STEAV)

A report from the Symposium on Trust and Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles (STEAV).

News
Feb 15, 2011

Questions for Secretary Clinton concerning "Internet freedom"

Faculty associate Matthew Hindman provoked an energetic email exchange among members of the extended Berkman Center community today, in anticipation of Secretary Clinton's …

Dec 16, 2010

Radio Berkman 172: The Evolutionary Biases of the Technium

This week on Radio Berkman: the idea that technology could want something seems kind of outlandish, almost like science fiction. But journalist Kevin Kelly is proposing a kind of…

Jul 15, 2010

Radio Berkman 158: Thinking About Thinking About the Net

This week on Radio Berkman: David Weinberger and Tim Hwang trawl through some schools of thought about the Net...

Dec 23, 2009

Radio Berkman 140: Three Trends of 2009

This week on Radio Berkman: Dan Jones turns the tables on David Weinberger, interviewing him about some of the big themes from this year's Supernova conference...

Dec 16, 2008

Radio Berkman: A (Porn) Free Nationwide Internet?

This week on Radio Berkman, David Weinberger interviews Stephen Schultze on the FCC's (now postponed) vote on a plan for free nationwide wireless Internet...

Jul 8, 2008

Rebooting America: Ideas for Resdesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age

Personal Democracy Forum has released Rebooting America, including essays from Yochai Benkler, danah boyd, Gene Koo, David Weinberger, and many more.

Apr 24, 2008

On a Scale of 1 to 10...

David Weinberger, who has been teaching The Web Difference at HLS this semester with John Palfrey, tells us, "In case you were wondering, we have scientifically determined that…


Community

Harvard Business Review

AI Has a Revolutionary Ability to Parse Details. What Does That Mean for Business?

David Weinberger examines the business world's engagement with AI through four key examples: strategy, talent management, leadership roles, and supply chain management.

Jul 29, 2024
Philosophies

The Rise of Particulars

AI and the Ethics of Care

David Weinberger views machine learning through a feminist ethical framework.

Feb 16, 2024
Sociologica

A Plea for Inexplicability

David Weinberger urges us to appreciate the inexplicability of machine learning.

Mar 15, 2023
The Hill

Musk boosts Twitter’s right-wing appeal with moderation changes, ‘Twitter Files’

David Weinberger discusses the shift in Twitter’s appeal to the right following Musk’s takeover. “It’s easy to understand why the right is overall so happy with what Musk has…

Dec 8, 2022
Aeon

Learn from machine learning

The world is a black box full of extreme specificity: it might be predictable but that doesn’t mean it is understandable

"The inexplicability [of machine learning models] is not a drawback but a truth."

Nov 15, 2021
People + AI Research

Q&A: Sabelo Mhlambi on what AI can learn from Ubuntu ethics

David Weinberger interviews Sabelo Mhlambi

May 6, 2020
Voices in AI

A Conversation with David Weinberger

Weinberger joins “Voices in AI” to discuss his views on AI

Apr 30, 2020
Atlanta Journal Constitution

Why coronavirus may be a watershed moment in this digital age

David Weinberger discusses potential outcomes of the shift to remote work

Mar 26, 2020
CBC Radio

Is the dream of an 'open' internet dead?

As some countries restrict and replace content, are we headed toward a world of multiple internets?

Feb 21, 2020

Watch: What fairness can learn from AI

David Weinberger explores fairness in the world of AI, and asks: what counts as relevant, and what trade-offs are necessary to be “fair”?

Feb 19, 2020
Hack the Process

David Weinberger Encourages Us to Embrace Chaos on Hack the Process Podcast

What machine learning has to teach the experts in business strategy, and more

Sep 30, 2019
ZDNET

Teaching Machines to Autonomously Write Stories

An interview with David Weinberger

Aug 30, 2019
Irish Tech News

How Technology Affects Our Ideas

A Q&A with BKC’s David Weinberger, author of “Everyday Chaos”

Jun 25, 2019
Medium

Machine Learning Widens the Gap Between Knowledge and Understanding

“We’re beginning to accept that the true complexity of the world far outstrips the laws and models we devise to explain it.”

Apr 15, 2019
El Pais

Artificial intelligence forces us to revise our idea of ​​justice

Technological advances such as artificial intelligence applied to the Internet of things are allowing the machines not only to connect with each other, but also to create their…

Oct 27, 2018
DMEXCO

The Internet, AI and keeping Marketing Human

"We're all so aware of AI's tremendous power as a tool for manipulating customers and citizens that there are official calls to make AI dumber"

Sep 13, 2018
Wired

Dont' Make AI Artificially Stupid in the Name of Transparency

In this Wired op-ed, David Weinberger discusses the implications around maximizing the benefits of machine learning without sacrificing its intelligence. A longer version of the…

Jan 28, 2018

Courses

The Web Difference? Digital Media, Entertainment, and the Law - Spring 2008

This course will examine the claim of Internet exceptionalism and the implications of this claim in the context of the law and society.


Events

May 14, 2019 @ 7:00 PM

Everyday Chaos

A Book Talk with author David Weinberger and Joi Ito

VIDEO & PODCAST: In his new book, Everyday Chaos, David Weinberger points to accepted ways we work on the Internet that in fact undo our old assumptions about how the future works…

Jun 25, 2013 @ 6:00 PM

REWIRE: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection

A book launch with the author, Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the MIT Center for Civic Media

A rousing call to action for those who would be citizens of the world—online and off.

Jun 18, 2013 @ 12:30 PM

Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now

Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock, in conversation with David Weinberger

The always-on, simultaneous society in which we have found ourselves has altered our relationship to culture, media, news, politics, economics, and power. We are living in a…

Nov 19, 2012 @ 6:00 PM

At the Corner of Hollywood and Web

A conversation + a screening of a new indie movie

Join us for a discussion about the intersection of Hollywood and the Web and the opportunities and challenges filmmakers, actors, producers, and audience members face in an era…

Event
Sep 11, 2012 @ 6:00 PM

Open Access Book Launch

Peter Suber tells us what open access is and isn’t, how it benefits authors and readers of research, how we pay for it, how it avoids copyright problems, how it has moved from the…

Jan 24, 2012 @ 6:00 PM

Too Big to Know

David Weinberger, Berkman Center and Harvard Law School Library Lab

David Weinberger discusses his new book, "Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is…

Nov 9, 2010 @ 12:30 PM

Meta-Library

Kim Dulin & David Weinberger, co-directors of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School

The co-directors of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School -- Kim Dulin and David Weinberger -- along with members of the Lab will demonstrate their lead project…

Apr 28, 2010 @ 6:00 PM

The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion

David Weinberger in conversation with John Hagel III

Join us for a discussion on The Power of Pull, a new book from authors John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison on how "pull" can be more systematically used to shape…

Jan 16, 2010 @ 9:00 AM

Lawberry Camp

An unconference geared towards law librarians, legal information professionals, and others in related fields

Lawberry Camp is an unconference geared towards law librarians, legal information professionals, and others in related fields and will be hosted at Harvard Law School.

Nov 10, 2009 @ 12:30 PM

What Information Was

David Weinberger, Berkman Center

David Weinberger will present an informal sketch of a direction for understanding the dominance of information as concept, metaphor, etc., suggesting that we leaped into …

Oct 6, 2009 @ 6:00 PM

What Information Was

David Weinberger

David Weinberger will present an informal sketch of a direction for understanding the dominance of information as concept, metaphor, etc., suggesting that we leaped into …

Jun 16, 2009 @ 6:00 PM

Cluetrain at 10: So How's Utopia Working Out for Ya?

with Berkman Fellows Doc Searls and David Weinberger, and Berkman faculty co-director Jonathan Zittrain

On the tenth anniversary of The Cluetrain Manifesto, how's all that freedom, that cyberutopianism, that Internet exceptionalism working out for you? Harvard Law professor and co…

Apr 25, 2008 @ 9:00 AM

ROFLCon

In the making since '94

Mix up a bunch of super famous internet memes, some brainy academics, a big audience, dump them in Cambridge, MA and you've got ROFLCon.

Feb 11, 2008 @ 2:44 AM

Web of Ideas: The Future of the Music Industry, with special guest musician Brad Sucks

with David Weinberger

Berkman Fellow David Weinberger discussed The Future of the Music Industry, with special guest musician Brad Sucks

Dec 5, 2007 @ 2:36 AM

Web of Ideas: Is the Web Changing the Nature of Leadership?

with David Weinberger

Berkman Fellow David Weinberger lead a discussion titled "Who are the Web’s leaders?", questioning whether online leadership will effect leadership off the Web.

Nov 14, 2007 @ 2:25 AM

Web of Ideas: Copyright: Designing from the Ground Up

with David Weinberger

Berkman Fellow David Weinberger lead a discussion on "Copyright: Designing from the Ground Up"

Jul 16, 2007 @ 12:00 AM

The Summer Doctoral Programme (SDP)

The Summer Doctoral Programme (SDP) is a joint effort of the Berkman Center and the Oxford Internet Institute, which provides top doctoral students from around the world with the…

Apr 30, 2007 @ 2:01 AM

Berkman Book Release: Everything is Miscellaneous

by David Weinberger

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society hosted a celebration in congratulations of Berkman Fellow David Weinberger’s release of his book Everything is Miscellaneous through…

Apr 25, 2007 @ 1:55 AM

Web of Ideas: Civility, Speech and Cyberbullying - A Code of Conduct for the Web?

with David Weinberger

Berkman Fellow David Weinberger lead a discussion "Civility, Speech and Cyberbullying - A Code of Conduct for the Web?"

Mar 21, 2007 @ 1:36 AM

Web of Ideas: Does Participatory Culture Lead to Participatory Democracy?

with David Weinberger

David Weinberger posed the question: Does Participatory Culture Lead to Participatory Democracy?

Mar 28, 2006 @ 12:30 PM

What's Up with Knowledge?

David Weinberger, Berkman Fellow

Berkman Fellow David Weinberger discussed developments in knowledge from the prominence of Jon Stewart to Wikipedia as an accurate reference in "What's Up with Knowledge?"

Mar 1, 2005 @ 12:30 PM

Why Tagging Matters

David Weinberger, Berkman Fellow

Berkman Luncheon Series: 3/1/05 - David Weinberger on Why Tagging Matters

Feb 28, 2005 @ 1:06 AM

Web of Ideas: The Time of the Net

with David Weinberger

Many of our metaphors about the Internet treat it as a place, which is perfectly appropriate. But many - perhaps all? - Net phenomena have a temporal dimension which is not …

Feb 16, 2005 @ 1:03 AM

Web of Ideas: Netty Friends

with David Weinberger

There's no doubt that we're forming relationships over the Internet that feel something like friendship. But are they different enough from real-world friendships that they need…

Jan 21, 2005 @ 1:00 AM

Web of Ideas: Everything is Miscellaenous

with David Weinberger

If we change the most basic principles of organization, what will happen to knowledge and to the institutions that take their shape from knowledge?

Jan 12, 2005 @ 6:00 PM

Web of Ideas: Is the Web a Medium?

with David Weinberger

Is the Web a Medium? At one level, the Web is a medium through which messages are passed from A to B. But if we acknowledge that the medium affects the messages or even that the…

Dec 8, 2004 @ 6:00 PM

Web of Ideas: The Social Effect of Architecture

with David Weinberger

This week's Web of Ideas featured a special guest, David P. Reed, one of the Internet's architects and most articulate thinkers.

Nov 3, 2004 @ 6:00 PM

Web of Ideas: Democracy and the New Public

Is the Net changing the nature of the public in ways that are good, bad or promising for democracy?

Is the Net changing the nature of the public in ways that are good, bad or promising for democracy?

Oct 6, 2004 @ 6:00 PM

Web of Ideas: Objectivity, Truth and Blogs

Wikipedia.org -- the grassroots encyclopedia -- has frozen edits to the page about George W. Bush because supporters and detractors were revising the page at a head-spinning clip.