Thought-provoking questions with controversial answers
For me, one of the biggest issues with democracy today - and one of the biggest threats to our collective (and individual) futures is that of package politics (or party-pack politics as I shall call the system). Party-pack politics forces you to pick your politicians off a set menu, with no additions or substitutions to … Continue reading Package Deal (or No Deal)
As deep fake technologies "improve", they now have the ability to manipulate the past as well as the future. We can no longer be sure that a historical document, photograph or even video footage has not been manipulated to change history (in ways not even Orwell's Big Brother could have imagined). Case in point, here … Continue reading Can we build a shared future without a shared past?
"Appraising the book by the peak-end rule, I overconfidently urge everyone to buy and read it." ~ Jim Holt, New York Times I concur with the quote. Daniel Kahneman's seminal work on behavioral economics and decision making, Thinking Fast and Slow, is one of the world's least-read best sellers. This puts the book in good company, also on the … Continue reading Thinking Fast and Slow
Person or Property? - That is the Question... “From a legal perspective, this is a complicated area, as the algorithms of an AI act as a “black box” — even the creator of the artificial intelligence is not always sure why the algorithm made a certain decision," ~ Marten Kaevats, Adviser of the Strategy Unit of the Government … Continue reading With robot rights, come robot responsibilities
If you are a human alive today, you should be at least pondering these sorts of questions: Do you want to live forever (if you could)? Should euthanasia be legalised? Should you microchip your children (so they can always be found)? Should we give non-humans (aka robots and algorithms) human rights (or human responsibilities)? Is … Continue reading Questions you should be asking (and answering) about the future
I'll be honest. I bought this book because of the title. I was bored, stuck in an airport with a delayed flight, killing time in a bookshop and the title called to me from across the store - after all who doesn't like a good conspiracy? Despite its random impulse purchase status, I loved this book. … Continue reading Conspiracy (with a very interesting cast)
The Library of Babel is a short story by Jorge Louis Burges - in 1941 - about an infinite library, containing all the knowledge of the world. The Library of Babel is utterly wonderful concept to bibliophiles and futurists like myself. (Infinite books! Infinite knowledge!) It has also been a source of inspiration for many … Continue reading The Library of Babel
"Amortal: Unable to die from disease or age." Amortality: A dream that could become reality in our lifetimes. Google has invested $1.5Bn in its strange and secretive project Calico, which has a mandate to “kill death” and stop human aging. Mark Zuckerberg's also invested $3Bn in projects to eradicate human diseases before the end of … Continue reading Amortality and the right (or demand) to die
Life is full of trade-offs: Equality or liberty. Indulgence or longevity. Spending or saving. Privacy or security. The merging of big data, big business, and big governments has brought the privacy/security trade-off to the forefront of our daily lives. Businesses, consumers, governments, and citizens now have to make some tough choices: Do we microchip our … Continue reading The Great Trade-Off : Privacy vs Security
Vampires, countesses and the battle for who owns the future - new blog post out now on #immortality and #generational conflict for scarce resources
