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Far from the Lonely Crowd: The Trenchant Techno-Cynicism of Mr. Robot
1Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Science Center 371, One Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
Abstract:
Mr. Robot is a television drama with an unusually techno-cynical premise, tying cybersecurity to the contemporary malaise of social alienation and political disengagement. Weary of consumer capitalism, the show's youthful protagonists seek a more authentic sense of belonging by exploiting the vulnerability of a global economic system that depends critically on creaking technological infrastructures. A remarkable display of iconoclasm for commercial entertainment, Mr. Robot suggests rising discontentment with the commodification of friendship through consumer electronics, but it may also offer media enterprises a model for how to profit from that discontentment in the future.
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