The New Era of Technology Literature: Domination, Property, Sovereignty

Dusseldorf. You can tell the course of an era by the fact that the books change. Just three years ago, there were mostly explanatory pieces on the subject of technology. How does a language model work, what is a blockchain, how do you disrupt an industry? The tone was curious, occasionally breathless, but essentially affirmative. Silicon Valley provided the future, Europe the interpretation.

The 2026 vintage reads differently. The authors gathered in this series no longer write about technology. You write about domination, about property, about sovereignty.

It's hard to know what Nina Kolleck thought when the French Parliament decided to ban social media for young people in mid-July. But the suspicion is that Kolleck was only half happy. The educational researcher and political scientist, who has been a professor of educational and socialization theory in Potsdam since 2023, sees the large social media platforms as a real danger for children and young people. And at the same time, anyone who reads her book will not get the impression that a blanket ban will solve all problems.