Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
This is the basic argument of a book I have been lost in for the last 10 days: The Technology Trap, by the Swedish-German economist and historian Carl Benedikt Frey. His basic thesis is that this phase of the 21st century is turning out to be very like the early 19th, in the sense that technology is causing a great crisis of status, security and trust in institutions.
Game of Thrones was arguably about climate change, but the HBO series turned this narrative around by presenting a last-minute technological solution as magically saving the day, the planet, and existence.
Since this is a blog whose aim is to speak of community and connectedness, albeit from a very imperfect practitioner, here are my areas of concern with the rise of social media, Facebook in particular: It is not some commons of a communal resource. It is a global business posing as community forum.
Can technological progress save us from ecological destruction? If some new clean form of energy was discovered tomorrow, could it be deployed quickly enough to decarbonize the world by 2050?
James Bridle’s New Dark Age is a deeply researched plea for us to move beyond computational thinking. He says learning to code doesn’t help us understand the internet age, any more than learning plumbing skills will give us an understanding of the ways an essential municipal utility is determined by hydrology, infrastructure, and sociopolitical policies.
Unidentified drones shut down London’s Gatwick Airport for three days last week in the midst of the busy holiday travel season. Drones are examples of how miniaturization and cost reductions of existing technologies can lead to havoc when there is no thought or testing concerning the implications for public safety.
I recently put out a call looking for places, events or venues that are creating wifi-free spaces, places where people can intentionally get away from smartphones and the distraction they bring into our lives, some time to cultivate the attention.
By now you have probably read about the so-called “tech backlash.” Facebook and other social media have undermined what’s left of the illusion of democracy, while smartphones damage young brains and erode the nature of discourse in the family. Meanwhile computers and other gadgets have diminished our attention spans along with our ever-failing connection to reality. The … Read more
Throughout my life, there’s always been this deification of technology, this belief that technology will save us all, whether it’s from our own mortality or the damage we’ve done to the planet and other species. But there is no high-tech silver bullet that can change the realities of nature, including the fact that we’re part of it and that it has its limits.
Silicon Valley meets Hollywood. That is the best description of how we will get food in the future if we would believe the impressive number of food tech start-ups which will produce food without soil or animals. But few of them deliver on their exaggerated promises.
The science fiction noir thriller, “The Expanse,” has a lot to say about systemic risks in society and about what not to do about them.
As traditional distribution systems and supermarkets are slow to address the food waste epidemic, there is growing momentum among a range of new companies to decrease waste by reshaping the food system itself.
