This book, written by a PHD mathematician who has worked as a maths professor, Wall Street quant and data scientist (in other words someone who knows what she is talking about) is essential reading (in my opinion) for contemporary humans. The book explains the biases built into big data and the resulting inequality and damage … Continue reading Weapons of Math Destruction
Following on from Sapiens, Homo Deus is as illuminating as its predecessor. This volume looks at transhumanism, that is the evolution of homo sapiens (that's us) into an entirely new species: Homo Deus, the first terrestrial species to emerge to have created itself, though a combination of biological, genetic engineering and technological enhancements, rather than to … Continue reading Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow
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
In many ways, common myths are the glue that hold human society together. This does not make these myths "true". It just makes them true enough for a large enough majority to believe in. When people believe in something, really truly believe in it, they will do almost anything to defend that belief, often to the … Continue reading The future of our shared myths
They say that if you want to be a good futurist, you should read science fiction. It is hard to argue that forward thinkers like George Orwell and Margaret Atwood and called a lot of things right in Animal Farm, 1984 and the Handmaids Tale. The Tin Men was written in the mid-20th century and … Continue reading The Tin Men
Cyborgs already walk amongst us. Actually, this is nothing new. For decades already we have been able to upgrade our frail human bodies with a pacemaker to keep our hearts pumping, hearing aid implants to help us regain our sense of sound, and metal plates and screws to hold us together when our hips and … Continue reading Of Machines and Men
Should we be afraid of the rise of the machines? Of that fact that artificial intelligence rapidly approaching the point of singularity - when the sum total artificial intelligence is smarter than the sum-total of human intelligence? Should we be implanting upgradable computer chips in our brains, as Elon Musk suggests, to ensure that human … Continue reading It only takes one guy
