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Podcast: The Future of Everything
Episode: Fred Turner: The 60s counterculture roots of today’s social networks
Description: It may not be widely known, but before he launched Apple, Steve Jobs lived for a year on a commune.
The fact that he became one of the wealthiest capitalists in America, however, should not surprise anyone who knows anything about the antecedents of Silicon Valley, says Stanford’s Fred Turner, professor of communication and history.
The truth is that there is a strong countercultural thread running through the fabric of today’s digital world. From “phreaking” scams of the long-distance telephone system to the Whole Earth Catalog, those who sought to disrupt society often found co...