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The currency of humanity (Joi Ito’s Practice of Change)
In late 2018, Joi Ito, Director MIT Media Lab presented ...
Tim Renner & Gerd Leonhard Beitrag in „Die Welt”. Wacht auf! Mensch, Technologie und die Zukunft der Politik (MIT VIDEO) German / French
Erschienen am 11.8.2018 in DIE WELT (Achtung: Paywall). Post auf ...
11
Aug 2018
It’s time to rein in the data barons (great read view MIT technology review)
“Jonathan Taplin, the director emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California, argues in Move Fast and Break Things, his book about the power of the internet giants, that rebel artists have long had to deal wit...
19
Jun 2018
New Podcast: riveting audio conversation with Futurists Calum Chace and Gerd Leonhard: AI, the Singularity, the Future of Humans and Machines
Calum Chace and me don't agree on many issues – ...
04
May 2018
Ein Podcast mit Tim Renner und Gerd Leonhard zum Thema Facebook und Politik – Podcast with Tim Renner (in German)
#deletefacebook – ist das wirklich die Lösung oder braucht es ...
24
Mar 2018
My latest contribution to The Next Web: connecting your brain to the Internet sounds great – but is it a good idea?
SOURCE “Brain implants or other types of neural links, ...
11
Mar 2018
Farhad Manjoo: For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers: real life is slow, technology is fast :)
“Real life is slow; it takes professionals time to figure out what happened, and how it fits into context. Technology is fast. Smartphones and social networks are giving us facts about the news much faster than we can make sense of them, letting...
08
Mar 2018
Great read about datamining, and nice animation (via Bloomberg)
The Brutal Fight to Mine Your Data and Sell It ...
02
Dec 2017
The Real Problem With Voice Assistants Like Siri Is Your Brain
“The bad news is that the capital-d Dream of a virtual assistant that manages your digital life while you live your real one is probably a lie. The real problem with voice assistants isn't that they're underpowered, or that their neural nets aren't sophisticated enough to intuit our requests. It's that user interfaces will always demand your attention—whether they're graphical, conversational, or, hell, telepathic.
I know this because for the past week, I’ve been using my AirPods to interact with Siri. Not to create timers, launch apps, or add things to my shopping list, but to, you know, get shit done.
In the morning, I slip an AirPod into my ear (just one), double tap it, and ask Siri to read me my emails while I make breakfast, recite the day's schedule while I put away dishes, organize my to-do list while I feed the dog, or help me field and respond to text messages as I pack up my bag and walk to the bus stop. Siri's voice recognition is now strong enough, its neural nets sharp enough, and its access to my personal information complete enough to handle this small handful of tasks quickly and consistently.�
The Real Problem With Voice Assistants Like Siri Is Your Brain
https://www.wired.com/story/multitasking-problem-with-virtual-assistants/
via Instapaper
I know this because for the past week, I’ve been using my AirPods to interact with Siri. Not to create timers, launch apps, or add things to my shopping list, but to, you know, get shit done.
In the morning, I slip an AirPod into my ear (just one), double tap it, and ask Siri to read me my emails while I make breakfast, recite the day's schedule while I put away dishes, organize my to-do list while I feed the dog, or help me field and respond to text messages as I pack up my bag and walk to the bus stop. Siri's voice recognition is now strong enough, its neural nets sharp enough, and its access to my personal information complete enough to handle this small handful of tasks quickly and consistently.�
The Real Problem With Voice Assistants Like Siri Is Your Brain
https://www.wired.com/story/multitasking-problem-with-virtual-assistants/
via Instapaper
12
Oct 2017
Matt Haig (The Guardian:) I used to think social media was a force for good. Now the evidence says I was wrong (must read)
“Kurt Vonnegut said: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be.” This seems especially true now we have reached a new stage of marketing where we are not just consumers, but also the thing consumed. If you have friends you only ever talk to on Facebook, your entire relationship with them is framed by commerce. When we willingly choose to become unpaid content providers, we commercialise ourselves. And we are encouraged to be obsessed with numbers (of followers, messages, comments, retweets, favourites), as if operating in a kind of friend economy, an emotional stock market where the stock is ourselves and where we are encouraged to weigh our worth against others.”
I used to think social media was a force for good. Now the evidence says I was wrong | Matt Haig
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/06/social-media-good-evidence-platforms-insecurities-health
via Instapaper
I used to think social media was a force for good. Now the evidence says I was wrong | Matt Haig
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/06/social-media-good-evidence-platforms-insecurities-health
via Instapaper
24
Sep 2017
Meet Futurist Gerd Leonhard in London October 4: Keynote at BREAKOUT2017: Ethical codes for a digital age
I am delighted to be able to contribute to this ...
08
Sep 2017
We’re spending so much time trying to become robots that we’re forgetting how to be human (Scott Hartley via qz.com)
Totally my topic ;)
"The drumbeat of science, technology, engineering, and math has picked up tempo, but a crisis of culture has emerged from its cadence. As we embark ever more aggressively on the path to master machines, we are forgetting the very foundations of what it means to be human.”
We’re spending so much time trying to become robots that we’re forgetting how to be human
https://qz.com/1070296/were-spending-so-much-time-trying-to-become-robots-that-were-forgetting-how-to-be-human/
via Instapaper
We’re spending so much time trying to become robots that we’re forgetting how to be human
https://qz.com/1070296/were-spending-so-much-time-trying-to-become-robots-that-were-forgetting-how-to-be-human/
via Instapaper
07
Sep 2017
…the coming robot onslaught. Great read via Quartz
“Advances in supercomputers and the understanding of neural networks are combining to create a revolution in robotics, and companies eager for more profitability and cheaper production are ruthlessly grabbing the new technology to automate rote jobs.
Blue-collar workers—forget about it. The robots will kill off the positions of half a million oil-rig hands, up to half the industry’s workforce around the world, along with hundreds of thousands of warehouse employees, Amazon-ized by automated forklifts and other machines. Then there are the drivers—the navigators of taxis and long-haul trucks, who make up some 17% of the adult US work force, adding up to about 7 million people, to be replaced by robot cars if competition from Uber’s roster of of 1.5 million drivers doesn’t put them out of business first. Fast-food workers—the hard-working teens, first-generation immigrants, and return-to-work moms who are the bedrock of burger joints everywhere—are also on the firing line as ordering kiosks begin to take the place of human cashiers.”
No one is prepared to stop the robot onslaught. So what will we do when it arrives?
https://qz.com/940977/no-one-is-prepared-to-stop-the-robot-onslaught-so-what-will-we-do-when-it-arrives/
via Instapaper
Blue-collar workers—forget about it. The robots will kill off the positions of half a million oil-rig hands, up to half the industry’s workforce around the world, along with hundreds of thousands of warehouse employees, Amazon-ized by automated forklifts and other machines. Then there are the drivers—the navigators of taxis and long-haul trucks, who make up some 17% of the adult US work force, adding up to about 7 million people, to be replaced by robot cars if competition from Uber’s roster of of 1.5 million drivers doesn’t put them out of business first. Fast-food workers—the hard-working teens, first-generation immigrants, and return-to-work moms who are the bedrock of burger joints everywhere—are also on the firing line as ordering kiosks begin to take the place of human cashiers.”
No one is prepared to stop the robot onslaught. So what will we do when it arrives?
https://qz.com/940977/no-one-is-prepared-to-stop-the-robot-onslaught-so-what-will-we-do-when-it-arrives/
via Instapaper
15
Apr 2017
The dangers and challenges of the Internet of Things – crucial points made by Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is one of the most brilliant thinkers when ...
11
Apr 2017
Resist the Internet – read this nicely put heretic piece
“Compulsions are rarely harmless. The internet is not the opioid crisis; it is not likely to kill you (unless you’re hit by a distracted driver) or leave you ravaged and destitute. But it requires you to focus intensely, furiously, and constantly on the ephemera that fills a tiny little screen, and experience the traditional graces of existence — your spouse and friends and children, the natural world, good food and great art — in a state of perpetual distraction.”
Resist the Internet
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/opinion/sunday/resist-the-internet.html
via Instapaper
Resist the Internet
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/opinion/sunday/resist-the-internet.html
via Instapaper
31
Mar 2017
Arthur C. Clarke on the hazardous occupation of predicting the future (1964) – must watch!
So very true. He's a major influence on my work.
06
Jan 2017
My comments on “What Black Mirror, Her and the near-future genre tell us about tomorrow” (TheGuardian)
I was recently interviewed by Noah Berlatsky and his piece just ...
21
Nov 2016
Is it time to become exponentially human?
By Gerd Leonhard, Future-Thinker and Humanist, Zürich, Switzerland, November 7, 2016 ...
