human works design - building meaningful futures - Issue #14
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” - Albert Einstein.
Computers can now write perfectly acceptable pop songs as Taryn Southern shows with her latest Break Free. Soon we’ll hardly recognise we’re surrounded in our soundscapes by songs written by machines. For sure, it’ll create fun and excitement for many people. What’s actually happening is that we’re withdrawing the pleasure of the creation process of the musician trying to craft the perfect song while he’s enjoying this process. Something essential for us humans, contributing to our overall level of happiness. Performing songs in front of other people and having the joy of singing songs together in community is one of the rare pleasures humankind has known for centuries.
Creating sex dolls has been around for decades and is coming to a next level ‘thanks to technology’. We can now create the ‘perfect companion’, according Realbotix CEO Matt McMullen: “There’s a need for alleviating loneliness. Some people are exceedingly lonely and for someone else to judge them for that to me is not fair.”
The problem with these technological ‘solutions’ is that we are not healing these people from being lonely and actually reinforcing them to stay in a loneliness loop while someone is making money with a ‘miraculous’ solution.
Umair Haque paraphrases our current society beautifully in The Dopamine Economy:
“So now we reward people, as if they were lab rats, with little tiny morsels of reward, whether they’re coupons, clickbait headlines, discounts, special offers, prizes, and so on, and somehow, they always come back for more. We don’t really know why — and so we don’t know what fire we’re really playing with, that we’re toying with the basics of human neurobiology itself, that every click’s effect is something like a heroin injection, dopamine triggering adrenalin surging through the system.”
The tech world is obsessed with solutions while there is little thought in actually tackling the source of the problem. What we need more is human innovation instead of technological innovation, to look at the core of our problems and find human solutions in order to create happy responsible lives instead of creating more loneliness.
Rudy.
(Word to Canay)
Hello, there!
I’m writing to you for the first time on our Human Works Design newsletter. We thought it’s time to give a voice to our feminine power, and highlight our efforts to turn #ChildrenFirst approach into a movement.
For starters, I thought I would share something that’s been on my mind a lot.
I consider myself as a good user of social media. With ‘good’ I mean using social media for my intentions such as creating valuable new connections (that’s how I met with Rudy), learning from each other and creating impact beyond our borders. Beginning of this week, I wanted to take couple days off from social media and deleted all social media applications on my phone; Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, Snapchat, Linkedin and Instagram.
First of all, it impacted me more than I assumed. (You can read about my thoughts and emotional swings on my Social Media Detox Diary.
Second, I became more aware of the growing threat to our children, who are and will be born into social media and exponential technologies.
Research with 14- to 24 year-olds shows Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter increase feelings of inadequacy and anxiety. The four platforms have a negative effect because they can exacerbate children’s and young people’s body-image worries, and worsen bullying, sleep problems and feelings of anxiety, depression and loneliness, the participants said.
As Michael Harris states in his book ‘The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection’;
“We embrace the gifts of technology, we usually fail to consider what they ask from us in return-the subtle, hardly noticeable payments we make in exchange for their marvellous service. We don’t notice for example, that the gaps in our schedules have disappeared because we are too busy delighting in the amusements that fill them. We forget the games that childhood boredom forged because the boredom itself has been outlawed. Why would we care that an absence has disappeared?”
And he encourages us to ask these two urgent questions at each juncture;
‘What will we carry forward? What worthy things might we thoughtlessly leave behind?’
I’d like to add a third one to his questions;
What are the new possibilities with/out technology that can enhance our human evolution?
The third question is a curious one to me; we know what is good for us and yet we fail to plan, design or implement towards what is best for us. We all know that our and our children’s learning to be more conscious about technology and social media usage is the most obvious and sustainable way.
So why don’t we implement this on a broader scale? Read my suggestions and share your ideas here.
With love and gratitude,
Canay.
In this newsletter lots of information and links on the future of work, blockchain, children first world design, social media collapse, the effectiveness of digital advertising, biohacking, quantum computing, climate change, personal health, creativity, and therapeutic music.
Enjoy!
Conscious Business Model Design Workshop
Conscious Business Model Design Workshop - Human Works
On the 3rd of November in Lisbon, as Human Works Design (HWD) we hosted the 1st edition of our intense 2 hours workshop, with 60 participants from +10 countries, for House of Beautiful Business guests of executives and entrepreneurs who want to get to the next level in designing conscious business strategies and conscious business models. Read all about our Conscious Business Model Design and get in touch if you want to learn and implement ‘Conscious Business Model Design’ workshop for your business, project or learning program.
Humanity
Letter to Humanity
Must read the letter to humanity to join the debate on our future – in which nature and technology are fusing into a ’next nature’.
Future of Work
“Make relationships, not things.”
Relationships are based on trust. Trust takes time and honesty. You can’t just create a pile of content and be done with it. You can’t “thing” your way to people trusting you. The question is why do you care about the people you’re creating the content for? What makes them special? What kind of relationship do you want to have? How do you want them to feel?
More Evidence That Humans and Machines Are Better When They Team Up
Instead of just fretting about how robots and AI will eliminate jobs, we should explore new ways for humans and machines to collaborate, says Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL).
A New Chart Conclusively Proves That Automation is a Serious Threat
Automation is going to save companies millions, but at a great cost to workers. We must work on solutions before the job market becomes unrecognizable.
Children First World Design
Who’s Ready to Put Their Kid on a Self-Driving School Bus?
Kids are most at risk when they’re boarding or alighting buses, not when they’re riding them, according to federal data. That’s why this new school mini bus concept ‘Hannah’ would drop kids off right in front of their houses, so students wouldn’t have to cross the street at all. More and smaller vehicles could mean quicker and more convenient trips to and from school—not to mention later wake-up times—especially in less dense areas, like the suburbs. The designer studio envisions Hannah recognising kids by their faces, to ensure only the right ones board the mini bus. It could even warn activity-happy students that, hey, today’s Tuesday—head to the field for soccer practice, not into me.
What adults can learn from kids
Why do we assume adults should teach to children? What about reversing that assumption; what can adults learn from children? Are children being discriminated frequently with the usage of words like ‘childish’? Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups’ willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.
Children should be playing more games in the classroom. Here’s why.
Analog games are great tactile tools to get kids excited about learning, and digital games add a level of interaction by creating unique experiences, more complicated story lines, and offering different types of player collaborations, such as global villages of student teams. By pairing analog and digital games in classrooms we ensure that students are engaged in multi-sensory learning.
Additionally, new research suggests that immersive experiences such as those offered by virtual reality create a sense of empathy and may build pathways to being more engaged citizens. A shining example of this is the VR experience Clouds Over Sidra, narrated by Sidra, a 12-year-old girl living in a Jordanian Refugee camp.
Social Media Collapse?
'We're designing minds': Industry insider reveals secrets of addictive app trade
Facebook, Google and Twitter were supposed to save politics as good information drove out prejudice and falsehood. Something has gone very wrong.
Do social media threaten democracy?
IN 1962 a British political scientist, Bernard Crick, published “In Defence of Politics”. He argued that the art of political horse-trading, far from being shabby, lets people of different beliefs live together in a peaceful, thriving society.
Facebook co-founder Sean Parker bashes company, saying it was built to exploit human vulnerability
Facebook literally changes your relationship with society, with each other. It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.
Climate Change
High-street outlets move to ditch plastic amid environmental concerns
The more brands like this can come on board, the more pressure that puts on the big manufacturers to actually switch over and start creating and developing innovation that is going to come up with an alternative solution to plastic that will work for everybody.
Welcome to China’s urban forest
Yes, you really can plant trees all over a city to make it cleaner and better. Liuzhou Forest City is set to challenge perceptions about urban living in the country and be a breath of fresh air - literal and metaphorical - for its 30,000 inhabitants.
The seven megatrends that could beat global warming: 'There is reason for hope'
Until recently the battle to avert catastrophic climate change seemed to be lost. But with the tipping point just years away, the tide is finally turning, thanks to innovations ranging from cheap renewables to lab-grown meat and electric airplanes.
Personal Health
Harvard study uncovers why fasting can lead to a longer and healthier life
A new study from Harvard researchers has now shown how fasting can increase lifespan, slow aging and improve health by altering the activity of mitochondrial networks inside our cells.
Advertising
Advertising companies struggle to adapt to a new world
It has been a miserable year for the holding companies that own the world’s largest advertising groups, with shares in WPP, Publicis, Omnicom and Interpublic Group all down sharply over the past 12 months. Consumer groups are rethinking their marketing spending while unease about the effectiveness of digital advertising has damped investor spirits. With advertising’s Mad Men in danger of becoming sad men, what future is there for the holding companies?
Quantum Computing
How China Is Using Quantum Physics to Take Over the World and Stop Hackers
China is leading the world in developing unbreakable encryption using quantum physics.
Biohacking
Biohackers are using CRISPR on their DNA and we can't stop it
People are starting to alter their own DNA with cheap, easy gene-editing technology. Is it time to regulate CRISPR?
Creativity
Classical and Jazz musicians show different brain responses to unexpected events, study finds
“Whenever I tried to improvise I always felt inhibited and self-conscious, and this spurred my questions about jazz improvisation as a model for creativity more generally: What makes people creative improvisers, and what can this tell us about how we can all learn to be more creative?”
Blockchain / Cryptocurrency
Pop Star Bjork to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments for New Album
Icelandic singer Bjork is to let fans pay with cryptocurrencies when they purchase her forthcoming album dubbed “Utopia, to be released on November 24.”
Blockchain-Based CVs Could Change Employment Forever
Almost two thirds of CVs contain some kind of white lie, half-truth or outright falsehood. One of the first blockchain applications to make it into commercial operation offers to greatly reduce the time and cost to employers of verifying the credentials of job applicants.
Is Quantum Computing an Existential Threat to Blockchain Technology?
To be clear, quantum computing threatens all computer security systems that rely on public key cryptography, not just blockchain. All security systems, including blockchain systems, need to consider post-quantum cryptography to maintain data security for their systems. But the easiest and most efficient route may be to replace traditional systems with blockchain systems that implement quantum-resistant cryptography.
Fabricating a Future for Distributed Manufacturing with Blockchain
Just as the Internet revolutionised how we create, share and sell digital content, these emerging technologies will increasingly come together to transform how we imagine, design and build physical objects. And just as many of the startups of yesterday have transformed into trend-driving innovators today, entrepreneurs, makers, and manufacturers of all kinds have a unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor and shape how this system evolves and what it will ultimately become. The future is here, now let’s distribute it.
Why and how the Cryptobubble will burst
or someone who has lived through the .com bubble the madness currently unfolding in the crypto space is just plain breathtaking. It is quite awe inspiring to see people make the exact same mistakes they made 17 years ago. Of course, today’s investors are likely different people who, for the most part, have not lived through the .com bubble.
BitTorrent inventor announces eco-friendly bitcoin competitor Chia
A bitcoin transaction wastes as much electricity as it takes to power an American home for a week, and legendary coder Bram Cohen wants to fix that. And considering he invented the ubiquitous peer-to-peer file transfer protocol BitTorrent, you should take him seriously.
London Block Exchange launches prepaid cryptocurrency debit card
The London Block Exchange’s prepaid card will let users spend bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, and monero wherever Visa is accepted.
Art & Culture
How Reading Rewires Your Brain for More Intelligence and Empathy
Get lost in a good book. Time and again, reading has been shown to make us healthier, smarter, and more empathic.
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme only once in own concert (1965)
A video recording of John Coltrane’s - A Love Supreme, for the first and only time in his career (Juan Les Pins Jazz Festival, Antibes, July 26-27 1965).
Therapeutic Music
Wavepaths App Guides Users Through Therapeutic Trips - Rolling Stone
Brian Eno teamed up with neuroscientist Mendel Kaelen to create an app for therapeutic music – and it ended up expanding both their minds.