Ro Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress. He has taught economics at Stanford, served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration, and represented tech companies and startups in private practice. He is the author of Progressive Capitalism: How to Make Tech Work for All of Us. He enjoys spending time with his wife and two children in Washington, DC, and Fremont, California.
“In this passionate and inspiring book, Khanna offers a vision for
creating spaces for rational exchange in digital media that do not
serve first and foremost economic interests. I am impressed by the
precise imagination of this well-informed politician.”
—Jürgen Habermas, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Johann Wolfgang
Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
“Is there any dignity in digital? That’s a great question to ask in
the wake of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which got
a toxic assist from tech giants like Facebook. It seems more clear
than ever—from misinformation to hate speech, from screen addiction
to the immense wealth held by tech billionaires—that tech is
working against us more than for us, as it was intended at the dawn
of the internet age. It’s to Ro Khanna’s credit then that he is
trying to change the narrative so that we can democratize the
inventions that were paid for by the American people and let us all
share in the wonders they are capable of delivering. If you are
interested in trying to even the digital playing field as we move
to even more critical technologies of the future, you should read
this book to find out how.”
—Kara Swisher, New York Times columnist and cohost of Pivot and
host of Sway podcasts
“In his new book, California Representative Ro Khanna rolls out a
vision to train rural as well as urban job-seekers to build
'digital' roads, bridges, and other aspects of infrastructure.
Calling simultaneously for effective regulation of Big Tech, and
protection of local community, Khanna envisions redistributing
opportunities from coastal cities to rural middle-America, bridging
cultural differences, and creating a new cosmo-local culture. An
exciting vision, brilliantly rendered—a must read.”
—Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Strangers in Their Own
Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
“This book is a highly principled, empirically grounded,
progressive blueprint for building an inclusive society in which
all Americans share a common national identity and participate in
constructive dialogue. It is founded on the possibilities of
sharing technology much more widely, on building the skills and
capabilities of all people, and on the basic principles of
inclusion and participatory democracy to chart a path to a
flourishing society.”
—James J. Heckman, Nobel Prize winner and professor of
economics at the University of Chicago
“Congressman Ro Khanna’s book, Dignity in a Digital
Age, is both a practical and aspirational guide to the future
of tech, governance, and equity. Congressman Khanna leans on
critical race and gender theorists, economists, and philosophers to
articulate a vision for the future of the technology sector that
centers racial and gender justice and eschews the digital
segregation that has defined the tech sector since its
infancy. Dignity in a Digital Age asks the question,
‘What could our country look like if we legislated and designed for
marginalized people to lead the next era of Silicon Valley?’ and
leads its reader to a measured understanding of how our country
can’t afford any other alternative. Too often, the voices of
people of color who’ve called for a radical reimagining of
technology companies, their hiring and retention practices, and the
products they produce, have been shouted down as too radical or
their ideas too impractical. Dignity in a Digital Age not only
amplifies those leaders, their stories, and their solutions, but
provides a legislative and policy roadmap for anyone unsure of how
to reach that vision.”
—Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder of the African American Policy
Forum and professor of law at UCLA and Columbia University
"It might seem counterintuitive for a member who represents Silicon
Valley to write a book on expanding technology to the middle of the
country, but that is precisely why it is so important. In this
‘shake the snow globe’ moment, Representative Khanna makes a
compelling case for place-based policymaking and how a more
well-dispersed innovation economy can help rising cities
thrive.”
—Steve Case, author of The Third Wave, chairman and CEO
of Revolution, and cofounder of America Online
“In Dignity in a Digital Age, Khanna provides a compelling
vision of how spreading opportunities in the technology revolution
across America can contribute to healing the nation's wounds.
Today's technologies allow workers to collaborate on projects with
diverse people in disparate locations while staying rooted in their
communities. This joint work has the potential to humanize
differences and increase the democratic intelligence of the body
politic, allowing America to live up to its founding vision.”
—Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill
University
“Ro Khanna is a great American dreamer. His dream, powerfully
presented here in personal, political, and philosophical registers,
is of a twenty-first-century democracy—multiracial and multiethnic,
with fair opportunity for all to participate in the extraordinary
fruits of American technological innovation. Deeply rooted in
values of equality, freedom, and public reason, Khanna’s democracy
is also rooted in places—from redwood forests to Gulf Stream
waters, from diamond deserts to waving wheat fields. It is a
democracy in which strong attachments to families, neighborhoods,
and local communities—places that people call their homes—is
married to a capacious, generous, inclusive sense of justice. This
is the American democracy that my grandparents immigrated for, that
my father defended on the beaches of Normandy and in the Ardennes
Forest, and that I hope my own children live in. We are in danger
of losing it. But with people like Ro Khanna fighting for it, with
great moral clarity and political energy, we all have reason to
hope.”
—Joshua Cohen, coeditor of Boston Review and member of faculty,
Apple University
“In this deeply considered and precisely detailed examination of
technology’s impact on the country’s financial future and emotional
present, Khanna presents policy initiatives that aim to bring
civility back to public discourse, both online and in person, and
to level the employment playing field. With both anecdotal accounts
and factual evidence, Khanna champions the responsible use of
technology to improve lives and unite factions.”
—Booklist
"Khanna has a nuanced take on the tech industry and offers genuine
solutions to significant problems plaguing the country... [a]
commonsense call for change."
—Publishers Weekly
“Just on the evidence of his new book, Ro Khanna is one of the
broadest, brightest and best-educated legislators on Capitol
Hill... His book is bulging with ideas about how to transform big
tech from a huge threat to liberty into a genuine engine of
democracy.”
—The Guardian US
“[F]ierce and compelling.”
—National Book Review
“Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) argues democratizing access to
tech can strengthen both the economy and our social fabric with a
roadmap to bridging the geographic and digital divides.”
—Fortune
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