Date/Time
Date(s) - October 28, 2026
7:30 pm
Location
Student Union Ballroom, McNichols Campus
The 2026 Bruttell Endowment in Social Ethics presents “Redemptive Tech: How Silicon Valley Gained Moral Authority from the Microchip to AI,” a lecture featuring Becca Lewis, Ph.D., assistant professor in Comparative Media Studies at MIT.
This event will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m., in the Student Union Ballroom. The talk is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available.
How did America first come to pin its hopes and dreams for the future on Silicon Valley? And how has that dream soured for some, while only growing stronger for others? This talk explores how political and business writers in the 1970s and 1980s portrayed Silicon Valley as a solution to America’s economic and moral challenges, a vision that shaped the Valley itself and continues to influence the ethical and political debates surrounding emerging technologies.
Lewis holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her work examines the ideas and politics that shape Silicon Valley and the internet, with a particular focus on right-wing ideology. Her work has been published in academic journals including New Media & Society, Social Media + Society and American Behavioral Scientist, and in news outlets such as The Guardian and New York Magazine.
For any questions, please contact Chair of the Department of Religious Studies Todd Hibbard at hibbarja@udmercy.edu.
The event is co-sponsored by University of Detroit Mercy College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences and the Department of Religious Studies.
Register here.
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