Categories: Articles

The Greatest Glory. The Internet.

The philosophical debate of our lifetime: is the Internet the greatest thing we have ever created or a disaster for humanity?

Who better to answer his question than Werner Herzog? Considered one of the greatest figures in New German Cinema, the famed screenwriter, film director, author and more is back with an incredible look at the Internet. He’s done everything from feature films like Bad Lieutenant, to short films to – my personal favourite – the world of documentaries.

Lo And Behold – Reveries of the Connected World is now playing at a theatre near you.

From the Lo And Behold website: “The Oscar-nominated Herzog chronicles the virtual world from its origins to its outermost reaches, exploring the digital landscape with the same curiosity and imagination he previously trained on earthly destinations as disparate as the Amazon, the Sahara, the South Pole and the Australian outback. Herzog leads viewers on a journey through a series of provocative conversations that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works – from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.”

It’s much more than that.

In Lo And Behold, Herzog prods some of the digital economy’s most prominent thinkers to deconstruct whether or not the internet is our greatest glory, or whether or not we will still need human companionship in an AI world. He even questions the power of individuals as being creative creators. Today, Vice published a great conversation between Ben Makuch and Herzog on everything from virtual reality, the future of humanity and trolling the internet community. It’s a great thought piece about internet culture and a primer to go and see Lo And Behold.

Werner Herzog on Virtual Reality, the Future of Humanity, and Internet Trolls – Vice.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.