Lecture & Seminar

Emergence: ‘Laughing Man’ and The Logic of Network Society

2021.03.12

Images X Technology X Society (‘Caesura’ talk series #1) 

Emergence: ‘Laughing Man’ and The Logic of Network Society

Speaker(s): Dr Lai Tsz Yuen

Speaker’s Bio: 

Dr. Tsz Yuen Lai, Research Assistant Professor of the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University, he is developing studies and courses including: ‘Film and 20th Century Political-intellectual History’ and ‘Techno-humanity’.

Event Summary: 

After the collusion between police director and technology company was exposed, the 'laughing man', as a mysterious figure on the internet, reappeared and announced in advance a sanction against the director. On the day of the ‘sanction’ incident, a large number of participants from police officers, media workers to ordinary citizens attacked the director, and they even claimed that they were ‘real laughing men’. Starting from the core event of the first season of the Ghost in the Shell animated series, this lecture is going to apply Manuel Castells' theory of ‘network society’ to discuss key issues such as ‘who is the laughing man’ and ‘what does stand along complex mean’ that will help get to the bottom of this incident, and reveal the basic logic of network society.

Registration: https://sles.hkbu.edu.hk/student/register/activity/CCL20210473