Caring for Cassandra

How do we heed the tech critic’s warnings? In Greek myth, Cassandra had gift of prophecy and suffered the curse of not being believed. Present day Cassandras are the whistleblowers, those fired for questioning tech's business models, those who draw attention to present harms rather than hypotheticals. Many of our staunchest tech critics today are marginalized and suffer for their resistance and refusal.

Cassandra went mad in not being believed as Troy fell. This talk explores how we can reimagine the Cassandra narrative by finding ways to support modern day prophetesses. We must collectively care for our Cassandras to create a more ethical tech landscape. Together, we can ensure that Cassandra's prophecies are not ignored, but rather embraced and acted upon to avoid tech’s greatest tragedies and imagine a alternative futures.