Building meaningful futures - Issue #10
Don’t you wish you could turn down the news these days in your news feed?
Spending less time on Facebook has the advantage of avoiding to read posts about people you really have little in common with, and then they run your country. All of a sudden, it’s like a tank coming into your room!
I started the week with this feeling, checking out some fresh news from my friends, you know that thing we came for on this platform in the first place. Then I saw this MSNBC video of how Stephen Miller, Senior Advisor to the US President for Policy, introducing the new Trump administration doctrine.
RESIST might soon become an understatement!
The resemblance with Joseph Goebbels is scary, to say the least, but the real ugly part starts when you read the comments section below the video.
These days it’s hard to stand ground on defending (and making the difference) between FREE speech and HATE speech. It’s one of the problems technology companies have failed to address correctly so far.
Shopify’s Breitbart fight proves it: these days, tech has to take a side
There’s no such thing as a neutral platform anymore. Businesses don’t want to be partisan, because it usually doesn’t help their share prices, but users may force them to be. Read also how Shopify CEO attempts to defend continued hosting of Breitbart’s online store.
Personally, I believe startups and companies who defend good universal values will be the winners of tomorrow. We cannot build healthy sustainable business based on hate and its derivates, so you have to take a stance.
On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg issued Facebook’s Building Global Community updated mission statement. “In times like these, the most important thing we at Facebook can do is develop the social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us”, writes the Zuck.
He concludes: “My hope is that more of us will commit our energy to building the long term social infrastructure to bring humanity together.”
I believe Mark has very good intentions and is playing it ethically correct. However, can a private company really be leading public sphere debate when its algorithms are continuously fine-tuned as a money- making machine pushing the one with money ahead of the one with an opinion, insight or learning?
Wouldn’t it be easier to make a not-for profit duplicate of Facebook for real, non-biased, manipulated and authentic dialogue in the public sphere, to stimulate the supportive, safe, informed, civically-engaged and inclusive communities you mention? I wouldn’t mind paying a tax for such platform, not influenced by advertising algorithms - hiding most of my friends’ posts, in favour of paid posts.
Robots are taking human jobs.
Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of robots, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment - a remarkable statement from the co-founder of Microsoft.
Meanwhile in Brussels, European lawmakers called for EU-wide legislation to regulate the rise of robots, including an ethical framework for their development and deployment and the establishment of liability for the actions of robots including self-driving cars. And rejected the idea of robot tax for the sake of competitiveness and employment. D'oh!
Time for a redesign?
Join my think tank group initiative for people interested in discussing how we can use technology to improve society.
Have a great week; take good care of yourself and your beloved ones!
Mobile World Congress Events
With a little more than a week to go to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, things are heating up again. Check below the events I’m involved in. Discounted & free tickets for grabs.
Mobile Sunday 2017 with Tech.eu - 26/2 at 18:00
We’re announcing our final program for the evening this Monday, so make sure to check out the confirmed speakers who will be joining us on stage at Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm. Currently confirmed speakers from startups and companies such as Andreessen Horowitz, AngelHack, HP Tech Ventures, Hardware Club, Fairphone, Roche, Airobotics, Skyroam, BMW Startup Garage, Booking.com, Patica, Blacklane, Connectors, The New York Times, 30minMBA and more. Check them out on the website.
I’ve got 5 FREE tickets for my readers. Use promo code SUNDAYVIP to benefit from this unique offer. 10 more tickets are available at a 50% discount, please use code RUDY_50 to benefit from this offer.
IoT Stars – THE Internet of Things Startup Pitching & Networking Event during #MWC17
Monday, 27/2 at Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm.
We’re currently evaluating the startup applications, we’re announcing the selected #IoT startups this Monday, stay tuned for a night of pure startup pitching live on stage with direct jury feedback. Jury members include the founder of the IoT Council, the CTO of the City of Barcelona, IoT Smart Cities Director at Telefónica, the Global IoT Evangelist at SAP and the MDs of Techstars and Startupbootcamp IoT.
I’ve got 5 FREE tickets for my readers for this event as well. Use promo code IOTVIP to benefit from this unique offer. 10 more tickets are available at a 50% discount, please use code RUDY_50 to benefit from this offer.
La Casa de la Seda in Barcelona
House of Beautiful Business
The House of Beautiful Business is a special pop-up community during Mobile World Congress (MWC), designed to offer an intimate space for meaningful conversations about technology and humanity. There are a lot of events programmed during the two days of activity, check out the details on the website. Access is free but you need to register as all events are on a first come first serve basis. Don’t hesitate to register as it’s going to be packed!
The two events I’m involved with on Tuesday 28/2 are the Philosophical Salon on Technology and the Public Sphere (already sold out) and The Great Debate with futurist Gerd Leonhard and Tim Leberecht and many others.
See you in Barcelona!
Feature of the week
Homo Deus: A conversation between Yuval Harari and Azeem Azhar by Exponential View
If you haven’t had the chance to read the (must read) book yet, here’s your chance to catch up with this 53 minutes conversation between Prof Yuval Harari and Azeem Azhar from The Exponential View, covering the compelling insights on where we are, and where we’re going, as a species. How will the twin advances of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence come together to transform humans and human society?
Must reads
The Philosopher’s Revolution
Metaphorically, the doors of perception have been opened for anyone with the courage to change society in his or her own unconventional way. Now is the time for the idealist and the visionary to seize the moment, to pose fundamental questions on the nature of existence, the purpose of society, the meaning of human liberty, the value of the collective good, to construct new, utopian visions from the ashes of a fragmented world, to reclaim the reins of politics from the cynics and the inveterate pessimists. The time has come in politics to return to philosophy, to question our core values and what it means to be human, to pursue the good without compromise and propagate new ideals in the service of humanity. By Justine Kolata.
In the age of robots, our schools are teaching children to be redundant
A regime of cramming and testing is crushing young people’s instinct to learn and destroying their future. When they are allowed to apply their natural creativity and curiosity, children love learning. They learn to walk, to talk, to eat and to play spontaneously, by watching and experimenting. Then they get to school, and we suppress this instinct by sitting them down, force-feeding them with inert facts and testing the life out of them. By George Monbiot.
Why upgrading your brain could make you less human
The blurring of person and product is already a widespread and, in some ways, unavoidable feature of society. But the advent of bio-enhancement takes the phenomenon to another level. If we are going to push back against it, we must start asking tough questions of ourselves today, and put into practice the sorts of choices and innovations that will keep us most vibrantly and creatively human. That might turn out to be where the real enhancement lies.
We’re building a world-size robot, and we don’t even realise it.
We can no longer give programmers and the companies they work for a special right to code cyberspace as they saw fit. Those moral, ethical, and political decisions need, somehow, to be made by everybody. We need to link people with the same zeal that we are currently linking machines. “Connect it all” must be countered with “connect us all.” By Bruce Schneier.
Meet the hackers trying to solve the problem of death.
The promise of a better world—a better you—is hard to turn away from these days. We are not more than human; we have not found a way to transcend. It feels indulgent to fantasise about a future in which humanity is optimised for immortality; it feels indulgent to fantasise about a future at all.
Inside the Macedonian Fake-News Complex
These guys didn’t care if Trump won or lost the White House. They only wanted pocket money. But the consequences of what they did shook the world.
“We have at most a year to defend American democracy, perhaps less“ - Timothy Snyder
The constitution is worth saving, the rule of law is worth saving, democracy is worth saving, but these things can and will be lost if everyone waits around for someone else. If we want encouragement out of the Oval Office, we will not get it. We are not getting encouragement thus far from Republicans. They have good reasons to defend the republic but thus far they are not doing so, with a few exceptions. You want to end on a positive note, I know; but I think things have tightened up very fast, we have at most a year to defend the Republic, perhaps less. What happens in the next few weeks is very important.
Generation Z
Global Young People Report by the Varkey Foundation
The Global Citizenship Survey – What the world’s young people think and feel is the biggest, most comprehensive up-to-date global survey of the views of Generation Z – the teenagers and young adults who were born around the turn of the millennium (15- to 21-year-olds).
Young people across the world share liberal values, are pessimistic about future, but they are divided on their support for the right to free speech. Only around half believe people should have the right to this even when it is offensive to a religion (56%) or minority groups (49%).
What happened to education and the role of the internet in this?
Full report can be downloaded here.
Parenting
6 Tips From Harvard Psychologists Who Studied What It Takes to Raise ’Good’ Kids
’Raising a child to be polite, caring, and compassionate is a very difficult task. But it’s exactly what all of us are capable of doing. And nothing else in the world will ever compare to the importance of this or the priceless joy you feel from it when it’s achieved.’
Future of Work
7 Suggestions for Those Who Want To Create Beautiful Businesses
Every transformation is a renewal. Personal transformation is the key to organisational change, so grow your empathy, self-awareness, emotional and spiritual strength, and your ability to inspire and unite. Change and be changed.
MIT’s Erik Brynjolfsson on the automated future of work
If we decide to use the power to create shared prosperity, I’m confident we can do so. But it will only happen if we actively work towards that goal. We have more powerful tools now than ever, which means we have more power to shape the world.
The Rise of AI Makes Emotional Intelligence More Important
The booming growth of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), like most transformational technologies, is both exciting and scary. It’s exciting to consider all the ways our lives may improve, from managing our calendars to making medical diagnoses, but it’s scary to consider the social and personal implications — and particularly the implications for our careers. As machine learning continues to grow, we all need to develop new skills in order to differentiate ourselves. But which ones?
The Future of Disruption In Business (video)
How are advanced technologies, Artificial Intelligence and predictive analytics enabling business opportunities? Find out in this panel discussion on disruption with a.o. John Hagel, Co-Chairman, Deloitte Center for the Edge, and Peter Schwartz, SVP, Strategic Planning, Salesforce at the 2017 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Your Next Hire: A Cognitive Developer
Cognitive computing is the next great technology shift. In the early days of mobile, we saw a spark, smolder and, ultimately, a ubiquitous wildfire. The same is occurring with cognitive. First movers on cognitive tech in every industry, including advertising and marketing, will win because they’ll possess advantages and outpace their competitors.
The elite of the future play…
Civic Engagement
Cooperation 2.0 for Global Solutions
Political and social upheaval across the globe signify that a major paradigm shift is under way. It has become very clear that we are living in accelerated times! Democracy is not without flaw, it is a process that must continue to evolve and adapt in order to address the needs of the day. At the heart of democratic principles is a sense of mutual respect and a desire to cooperate in a way that is best for all. Is the world finally ready to embrace this perennial wisdom?
What Would Happen If We All Hit Pause?
What’s the solution to isolation, anxiety, and stress? Dr. Murthy prescribes a deeper sense of connection to improve your well-being. But you can’t get there by collecting friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter. It requires having actual conversations with actual people. Such interactions not only improve your health, they also impart deeper empathy for others and can lead to new collaborations. And we need that now. Urgently.
Universal Basic Income (UBI)
Elon Musk: Automation Will Force Governments to Introduce Universal Basic Income
Elon Musk believes artificial intelligence that is much smarter than the smartest human on Earth could result in dangerous situations. Musk argues that the government must introduce a universal basic income program in order to compensate for automation.
Billionaire with a purpose
Omidyar will donate approximately $500,000 to fund a project in Kenya that will give thousands of people a guaranteed regular income.
Health
The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest
The powerful cancer documentary seen and shared by millions when it first aired (to limited release) in 2015 is about to be unveiled to the world on February 21st. You’ll discover the most effective ways to prevent and beat cancer — from 131 of the world’s top experts — that you won’t hear about elsewhere.
Climate Change
Canada: Save the bees
Imidacloprid is a terrifying chemical used on much of the world’s fruits and vegetables – and it’s threatening our web of life from bees to insects. Now Canada could ban it. They’ve opened a public comment period to help them decide, but industry bullies are lobbying to protect their multi billion-dollar product. Add your name and before the comment period closes, we’ll send the government the biggest call ever to block the bullies and back the bees.
Norway's electric vehicles market share reaches record breaking 37%
Norway sets the tone with a consistent vision on how to switch to a cleaner economy, the country pushed the limits last month with record plug-in electric sales reaching 37% market share in the country’s passenger car market.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificially intelligent systems must not replicate human bias
Ethics committees will not resolve concerns about AI taking jobs, however. Fears of a backlash were apparent at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos as executives agonised over how to present AI. The common response was to say machines will make many jobs more fulfilling though other jobs could be replaced.
China's Rise in Artificial Intelligence
The country’s universities and tech giants are starting to surpass American ones when it comes to researching and implementing AI.
AI will make life meaningless, Elon Musk warns
Tech billionaire Elon Musk believes artificial intelligence could be catastrophic for humanity who are set to become a cyborg race which will have to grapple with 15 percent of the global workforce being without a job.
Design
What Is Design's Role in Anxious Times?
The London Design Museum launches its refresh with a compelling exhibition that untangles the complexities of our age.
Throw out blast from the past
The Velvet Underground's John Cale Plays Erik Satie's Vexations on I've Got a Secret (1963)
Few of us today, in search of unconventional artistry, would imagine mid-20th-century CBS game shows as a promising resource. But looking back, it turns out that American television of that era — a time and place when more people were exposed to the very same media than any before or since — managed to bring a surprising number of genuine creators before its mainstream-of-the-mainstream audience. In 1960, for instance, experimental composer John Cage performed Water Walk, his piece for a bathtub, pitcher, and ice cubes, on I’ve Got a Secret.
Closing quote
“In all things: let love guide you, let truth test you, let success humble you, let dreams awaken you, let meaning free you.” - Umair Haque