There would be no accurate GPS without Einstein. And no WiFi without Stephen Hawking’s discoveries on black holes. «Space research changes everyday life», says cosmologist Roberto Trotta whom we met at the Web Summit in Lisbon. «But above all, it will one day answer the Great Question: why do we exist?»
«The more full of tech the world is, the more it craves for ethics. Because what matters is not figuring out whether or not we must be afraid of robots, but how to manage digital society in a coordinated manner». A conversation with philosopher Luciano Floridi, director of the Digital Ethics Lab at the University of Oxford. Who in ’95 already warned: «The Internet promotes the growth of knowledge while creating forms of unprecedented ignorance».
«We think Big Techs want our clicks because they want to flock us with ads. But what they are after is the huge amount of data that is necessary to build AI services». Self-driving cars, systems to manage energy consumption, testing devices to defeat illnesses… According to activist Evgeny Morozov data is like oil: they provide private companies with immense power over States. Reason for which, they should be a “common good”.
Sci-fiction writer Bruce Sterling about smart cities: urban intelligence design should originate from the desire to solve social issues. But it doesn’t. And that’s not smart at all…
Some books must be read, even if they hurt. Because we understand, while we are facing them, that they truly matter. A talk with Gabriel Tallent about his debut novel, My Absolute Darling
After years of reviewing the self help manuals for the Guardian, Oliver Burkeman figured it all out: positive thinking is useless, when not harmful, when looking for happiness. If there is a recipe, he says, it’s all about accepting that life is an alternation between good and evil
In 2002, Richard Florida had imagined cities becoming forges of prosperity through talent, technology and tolerance. They did. But inequality also came along. In this interview he explains how to restore fairness, and where to start.
Writer Olivier Bleys has a dream: walk around the whole world slowly, on foot to re-discover human nature. And the desire for rebellion
The Dutch philosopher Rutger Bregman is convinced that we can design a more just society, without revolutions or “strong men”: to do so we need a utopia for realists, a dream that makes the hearts beat but also the world. To be proposed as the system will collapse.
Rental, group purchases and use. According to economist Philippe Moati, the sharing economy is just another side of hyperconsumption. «The only good consumption? It leads to doing rather than having»
