

Keen On America
Andrew Keen
Nobody asks sharper or more impertinent questions than Andrew Keen. In KEEN ON, Andrew cross-examines the world’s smartest people on politics, economics, history, the environment, and tech. If you want to make sense of our complex world, check out the daily questions and the answers on KEEN ON.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best-known technology and politics broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running show How To Fix Democracy and the author of four critically acclaimed books about the future, including the international bestselling CULT OF THE AMATEUR.
Keen On is free to listen to and will remain so. If you want to stay up-to-date on new episodes and support the show, please subscribe to Andrew Keen’s Substack. Paid subscribers will soon be able to access exclusive content from our new series Keen On America – keenon.substack.com
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best-known technology and politics broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running show How To Fix Democracy and the author of four critically acclaimed books about the future, including the international bestselling CULT OF THE AMATEUR.
Keen On is free to listen to and will remain so. If you want to stay up-to-date on new episodes and support the show, please subscribe to Andrew Keen’s Substack. Paid subscribers will soon be able to access exclusive content from our new series Keen On America – keenon.substack.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 9, 2023 • 35min
The Datapreneurs: Bob Muglia on why we should trust the promise of AI and its creators to build a better human future
EPISODE 1544: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to DATAPRENEURS author Bob Muglia about why we should trust the promise of AI and its creators to build a better futureBob Muglia is a data technology investor and business executive, former CEO of Snowflake, and past president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Division. As a leader, Bob focuses on how innovation and ethical values can merge to shape the data economy's future in the era of AI. He serves as a board director for emerging companies which seek to maximize the power of data to help solve some of the world's most challenging problems. His latest book is THE DATAPRENEURS: The Promise of AI and the Creators Building Our Future (2023)Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 9, 2023 • 32min
Against Nostalgia: Mark Lilla on why progressives should reject nostalgia in thinking about both the past and future
EPISODE 1543: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to author of THE ONCE AND FUTURE LIBERAL, Mark Lilla, about why progressives must liberate themselves from a nostalgic reading of both the past and the futureMark Lilla is Professor of Humanities at Columbia University and the author of The Once and Future Liberal.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 9, 2023 • 32min
In this regular weekly show with THAT WAS THE WEEK newsletter author Keith Teare, Andrew and Keith discuss why Keith was wrong in last week's show about Apple's new Vision Pro and how this revolutionary device might once again change everything
EPISODE 1542: In this regular weekly show with THAT WAS THE WEEK newsletter author Keith Teare, Andrew and Keith discuss the venture capital crisis and why big tech is getting even bigger in a post nation-state worldKeith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously founder at the Palo Alto incubator, Archimedes Labs. Archimedes was the original incubator for TechCrunch and since 2011has invested, accelerated or incubated many Silicon valley startups including InFarm, Miles, Quixey; M.dot (sold to GoDaddy); chat.center; Loop Surveys; DownTown and Sunshine. Teare has a track record as a serial entrepreneur with big ideas and has achieved significant returns for investors.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 9, 2023 • 30min
A Radical Amerikan Family: Santi Elijah Holley on the Shakurs - from the Black Panthers to Tupac
EPISODE 1541: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Santi Elijah Holley, the author of AN AMERICAN FAMILY, about the Shakurs - from the Black Panthers to TupacSanti Elijah Holley has reported for nearly a decade on the intersection of culture, music, race, religion, and politics. He has contributed to numerous national and international periodicals, including The Guardian, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and The Economist, and his book reviews appear regularly in The Washington Post. He has been a guest on radio, television, and podcasts, including The Majority Report With Sam Seder and Bad With Money With Gaby Dunn. During his years of reporting, he has embedded himself with confrontational Christian street preachers in Cincinnati, bunked at an historic multiracial communal farm in south Georgia, met with elder Black Panthers in New York, and been tear gassed by federal police in Portland during the 2020 protests for racial justice. His latest book is AN AMERIKAN FAMILY (2023)Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 8, 2023 • 34min
The Good Enough Job: Simone Stolzoff on how to reclaim our life from work
EPISODE 1540: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Simone Stolzoff, the author of THE GOOD ENOUGH JOB, on how we can reclaim our lives from workSimone Stolzoff is an author, designer, and workplace expert from San Francisco. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, his work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He is a graduate of Stanford and The University of Pennsylvania. His latest book is THE GOOD ENOUGH JOB (2023)Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 8, 2023 • 35min
The Three Ages of Water: Peter Gleick on the prehistoric past, imperiled present and hopeful future of water
EPISODE 1539: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of THE THREE AGES OF WATER, Peter Gleick, about the prehistoric past, imperiled present and hopeful future of waterPeter Gleick is perhaps the world’s most widely known and cited water expert. Educated at Yale and Berkeley, he went on to cofound the Pacific Institute, the leading independent research group devoted to reimagining water for a changing world. He is a scientist by training, winner of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award, and an elected member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018 he was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. He lives in Berkeley, California.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 8, 2023 • 35min
My Hijacking: Martha Hodes on her memoir of forgetting
EPISODE 1538: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of MY HIJACKING, Martha Hodes, about her memorable (and forgettable) experience of being on hijacked plane in 1970Martha Hodes is professor of history at New York University. She has presented her scholarship around the world, and serves as a consultant for documentaries, television and radio, and museum exhibitions. She is the author of the award-winning books Mourning Lincoln; The Sea Captain’s Wife: A True Story of Love, Race, and War in the Nineteenth Century; and White Women, Black Men: Illicit Sex in the Nineteenth-Century South. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harvard University, the Whiting Foundation, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Her latest book is MY HIJACKING: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering (2023)Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 8, 2023 • 37min
Imagine a City: Mark Vanhoenacker writes a love letter from the sky to the world's greatest cities
EPISODE 1537: In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of IMAGINE A CITY, Mark Vanhoenacker, about his love affair, as a pilot, with the world's greatest citiesMark Vanhoenacker is a Boeing 787 pilot for British Airways and the author of ‘Imagine a City’ (Chatto & Windus/Knopf). Follow Mark on Twitter @markv747 or email him at mark.vanhoenacker@ft.comNamed as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 8, 2023 • 32min
As Rich as a Digital Croesus: Trevor Traina imagines a super app in which we can store all our Web3 data
EPISODE 1536: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the KresusLabs founder and CEO Trevor Traina about his super app in which, he claims, we will store all our Web3 dataTechnology entrepreneur and private investor Trevor Traina has founded and co-founded several successful enterprises, including the Internet's first comprehensive product-comparison guide, CompareNet. After Microsoft purchased CompareNet in 1999, he stayed on board for two years as the site evolved into MSN's shopping channel.Most recently, Trevor Traina founded and served as Chairman of DriverSide, a resource assisting consumers with all aspects of owning and maintaining vehicles. A major public corporation acquired the firm in 2011. Recognized for his expertise, Trevor Traina was appointed by the Mayor to the Technology Advisory Council of the City of San Francisco. He has also held responsibilities on business and charitable boards for Verdiem Corporation, Swanson Vineyards, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Gladstone Institutes, and other organizations. Trevor Traina completed his undergraduate degree at Princeton University and graduate degrees at Oxford University and the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Jun 7, 2023 • 35min
In Defense of Big Girls: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan asks whether the American Republic was founded on anti-fat people principles
EPISODE 1535: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, author of BIG GIRL, about whether the American Republic was founded on anti-fat people principlesMecca Jamilah Sullivan is the author of the novel Big Girl, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and a best books pick from Time, Essence, Vulture, Ms., Goodreads, Booklist, Library Reads, and SheReads.com. Her previous books are The Poetics of Difference: Queer Feminist Forms in the African Diaspora (University of Illinois Press, 2021), winner of the William Sanders Scarborough Prize from the Modern Language Association, and the short story collection, Blue Talk and Love (2015), winner of the Judith Markowitz Award for Fiction from Lambda Literary. Mecca holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Temple University, and a B.A. in Afro-American Studies from Smith College. In her fiction, she explores the intellectual, emotional, and bodily lives of young Black women through voice, music, and hip-hop inflected magical realist techniques. Her short stories have appeared in Best New Writing, Kenyon Review, American Fiction: Best New Stories by Emerging Writers, Prairie Schooner, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize Stories, BLOOM: Queer Fiction, Art, Poetry and More, TriQuarterly, Feminist Studies, All About Skin: Short Stories by Award-Winning Women Writers of Color, DC Metro Weekly, Baobab: South African Journal of New Writing, and many others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the winner of the Charles Johnson Fiction Award, the Glenna Luschei Fiction Award, the James Baldwin Memorial Playwriting Award, the 2021 Pride Index National Arts and Culture award, and honors from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, The Yaddo Colony, the Hedgebrook Writers’ Retreat, Lambda Literary, the Publishing Triangle, and the Center for Fiction in New York City, where she received an inaugural Emerging Writers Fellowship. A proud native of Harlem, NY, Sullivan’s scholarly work explores the connections between sexuality, identity, and creative practice in contemporary African Diaspora literatures and cultures. Her scholarly and critical writing has appeared in New York Magazine’s The Cut, American Literary History, Feminist Studies, Black Futures, Teaching Black, American Quarterly, College Literature, Oxford African American Resource Center, Palimpsest: Journal of Women, Gender and the Black International, Jacket2, Public Books, GLQ: Lesbian and Gay Studies Quarterly, Sinister Wisdom, The Scholar and Feminist, Women’s Studies, College Literature, The Rumpus, BET.com, Ebony.com, TheRoot.com, Ms. Magazine online, The Feminist Wire, and others. Her debut novel, Big Girl (W.W. Norton & Co./ Liveright 2022) was selected as the July 2022 Phenomenal Book Club pick, a WNYC Radio 2022 Debut pick, and a New York Public Library “Book of the Day.”Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.


