The spectre of digital capitalism is haunting the world.
The so-called “AI boom” of the past few years has now taken centre stage in the public debate, scientific research, and in the political agendas of international institutions.
As the Global North seems to have embarked on a relentless journey towards the digital restructuring of our societies, the digital transition has given rise to new problems regarding the societal and political implications of new technologies.

Is a new form of digital capitalism emerging from the interplay of digital technology and pre-existing social relations? What is the direct impact of digital technology on human labour? How does this affect our life as a whole? And how is it revolutionising the public sphere?
More urgently, what is the role of emancipatory politics in this scenario?
These are some of the questions that tech enthusiasts and technophobes alike are ill-prepared to address.

The third edition of the Lake Como Summer School in Critical Theory of Society will gather scholars of renowned reputation to discuss these issues from different perspectives.

• Marxism, Luddism, and the Future of Work
• Capitalism and Technology: The Persistence of Taylorism
• Algorithms of Resistance: The Everyday Fight against Platform Power
• Algorithms of Resistance: A Methodological Reflection

Workshops

• Opaque Technologies, Black Boxes, and Digital Power: Journalism and the Critical AI Beat
• Crypto-economies, Speculative Futures and Post-capitalist Desires

Admission is open to post-graduate students and early-career researchers who have a strong interest in critical thinking and share the aims of the summer school.

The summer school can host up to 24 participants. Due to the limited number of available places, prospective
participants are requested to submit a formal application and will only be admitted after they have successfully passed a selection process.

The Summer School will extend for four days, alternating lectures and seminars. Each day will be structured into a morning session and an afternoon session. Only one session will be held on the first and final day. The morning and afternoon sessions will be chaired by different speakers and separated by a lunch break and one or more coffee breaks in order to elicit more informal conversations.

Friday, 24 May 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CET (UTC + 01:00)

• Luca Basso (University of Padua)
• Giorgio Bertolotti (University of Milano-Bicocca)
• Svenja Bromberg (Goldsmiths, University of London)
• Giorgio Cesarale (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
• Maria Chehonadskih (Queen Mary University of London)
• Luisa Lorenza Corna (University of the West of England)
• Filippo Del Lucchese (University of Bologna)
• Lucie K. Mercier (Université de Fribourg)
• Stefano Petrucciani (Sapienza University of Rome)
• Natalia Romé (University of Buenos Aires)
• Andrés Saenz De Sicilia (Northeastern University—London)
• Marco Vanzulli (University of Milano-Bicocca)

• Villa Gallia - Via Borgovico 154, Como
• Spazio Natta - Via Natta 18, Como