Alexander Hoysted

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Alexander Hoysted is a writer and researcher from the world of technology, exploring one of the defining questions of the modern age: who are we becoming in the digital world?

Alongside his professional work in technology advocacy, he studies philosophical accounts of stories, identity, and meaning. His forthcoming book, Can You Finish This Book?, explores how digital technologies have reshaped attention, identity and our sense of what is real. It also shows how to live peacefully alongside this noisy reality.

As identity is increasingly performed through feeds, algorithms, and metrics, authenticity has become both a moral aspiration and a commodified product. We are told to be ourselves, but what does that actually mean when the self is constantly interrupted and shaped by systems designed to capture our attention?

Drawing on philosophy, cultural evolution and his own life spent bumbling through a screen-soaked upbringing, Alexander's talk explores a deeper question beneath the noise: what does it mean to be truly authentic in an artificial world?