Category: Technology and Humanity

Is Social Media Ruining Political Discourse (must-read via The Atlantic)

GREAT READ, provocative stuff – thanks Jay-David. “YouTube is designed to catch you and not let go. Sometimes I access the site just to watch one thing, but then one of the related videos catches my eye. I watch that one, then another and another, and soon a five-minute visit has stretched far longer. If … Continue reading "Is Social Media Ruining Political Discourse (must-read via The Atlantic)"

Staying Human in the Face of Limitless Technology – new interview with Gerd Leonhard and Emily Miller, Netapp (video, as well)

Via the Netapp blog “With our growing dependence on artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous products, we face an erosion of basic skills as well as many deep questions about how this technology affects humankind. To explore this paradigm shift, NetApp’s VP of Brand and Influence, Emily Miller, recently sat down … Continue reading "Staying Human in the Face of Limitless Technology – new interview with Gerd Leonhard and Emily Miller, Netapp (video, as well)"

My book Technology vs Humanity is now available in Chinese!

Really excited about that – purchase links to follow!  

3 short excerpts from my keynote at Xerocon 2018: Technology and Humanity – the next 10 years

The Megashifts Reinventing ourselves  The Future is better than we think   

Surveillance Capitalism and the Platform Economy is humanly and societally unsustainable, and Facebook will go down with it

  Read this for context:   The brilliant book by Shoshana Zuboff The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Time to break up Facebook (Chris Hughes NYT) Chris Hughes is right (WIRED) Here is what I said about Facebook in 2018, and why I quit last year Download MP4: Surveillance Capitalism unsustainsble gerd leonhard  

CEOs Have To Stop Using Smart Machines To Get Rid Of Workers (good read via Forbes.com)

… with some quotes from me, as well:). “Predicting more change in the next 20 years than the previous 300, Gerd Leonhard, CEO of The Futures Agency, sees this era as a once in a lifetime opportunity to solve major problems like cancer and global warming – provided companies think bigger about possibilities and embrace … Continue reading "CEOs Have To Stop Using Smart Machines To Get Rid Of Workers (good read via Forbes.com)"

New video: Futurist Gerd Leonhard’s keynote at WBCSD Montreux: technology and humanity – circular and sustainable?

The 15 “We shall not” statements from my latest book, Technology vs Humanity – and what has happened since I published it

The 15 Shall Not’s, below, are excerpted from chapter 10 of my 2016 book Technology vs. Humanity which is, thankfully, becoming increasingly popular around the globe, and is now available in 11 languages. It is pretty amazing how many of these 15 concepts that I presented less than 3 years ago are now being debated every … Continue reading "The 15 “We shall not” statements from my latest book, Technology vs Humanity – and what has happened since I published it"

Five new human rights for the Digital Age (excerpt from Gerd Leonhard’s book Technology vs Humanity)

This is a slightly modified and hyper-linked excerpt from my new book ‘Technology vs Humanity’. Find out more about  ‘Technology vs Humanity’, check out the reviews, read the cheat sheet, or buy the book on Amazon.

The experience economy is booming, but it must benefit everyone (WEF 2019)

The experience economy has become a constant component in my talks and presentations, riffing of Gilmore & Pine’s 1999 and 2005 book. Here are some good quotes from a recent WEF article “In our overpopulated world, stuffed with an ever-growing stockpile of products, offline experiences have become key to personal fulfilment. While 78% of millennials … Continue reading "The experience economy is booming, but it must benefit everyone (WEF 2019)"

New podcast: conversation on Digital Ethics, Chapter 10 of Gerd Leonhard’s book ‘Technology vs Humanity’. Technology does not have ethics – but we must!

In this podcast Peter Van and me talk about Chapter 10 in my book Technology vs Humanity, on Digital Ethics. It is a fast-paced conversation well worth your time, imho 🙂 Download the Mp3: gerd leonhard and peter van on digital ethics technology vs humanity Check out the other podcasts, here. Subscribe on Spotify,  iTunes or Soundcloud.

Really nice piece about my work as futurist, humanist, author and film maker (in Spanish): GERD LEONHARD: “SE INVIERTE MUY POCO EN EDUCAR A LOS NIÑOS A SER MÁS HUMANOS”

Nice piece via the Foundacion Telefonica and Juan Zafra – thanks! FUTURISTA, HUMANISTA Y CINEASTA GERD LEONHARD: “SE INVIERTE MUY POCO EN EDUCAR A LOS NIÑOS A SER MÁS HUMANOS” El autor de ‘Tecnología vs. Humanidad’ aboga por un giro radical en la educación para no preparar a los niños a comportarse como robots Gerd Leonhard … Continue reading "Really nice piece about my work as futurist, humanist, author and film maker (in Spanish): GERD LEONHARD: “SE INVIERTE MUY POCO EN EDUCAR A LOS NIÑOS A SER MÁS HUMANOS”"

Practical Wisdom: The Master Virtue

PRACTICAL WISDOM has become a key meme for my work – hence the pointers below:)) “For Aristotle, being virtuous meant avoiding these extremes, by following the path between two vices: that of not applying a virtue enough, and that of applying it too much. He called this finding the “mean” of a virtue. For example, … Continue reading "Practical Wisdom: The Master Virtue"

6 keywords to describe the future: exponential, convergent, combinatorial, holistic, circular, human-centric

Here’s a brand-new animation that shows these 6 items, below (note that the last 3 are probably more about ‘what I hope will happen’ rather than what is already happening, like the first 3:) Exponential change Convergent industries Combinatorial effects Holistic ecosystems Circular logic Human-centric progress

New podcast: Chapter 9 of Gerd Leonhard’s book Technology vs Humanity: on happiness

Is happiness programmable? Can technology further lasting human happiness? What is the difference between hedonism (short happiness bursts) and eudaemonia (lasting, deeper happiness)?  In this podcast, my curator Peter Van and I discuss Chapter 9 from my book Technology vs. Humanity, on HAPPINESS. Download the MP3: gerd leonhard peter van chapter 9 technology humanity MP3 You can … Continue reading "New podcast: Chapter 9 of Gerd Leonhard’s book Technology vs Humanity: on happiness"

New video with Futurist Gerd Leonhard’s keynote at Springsplash 2019 in Helsinki. The Future: Awesome humans on top of amazing technology

Smart everything – but still human? The more we connect the more we must protect.  Trust isn’t digital, happiness is not a download. Technology CAN do great things but it does not WANT to do great things. Springsplash Helsinki Technology Humanity The Future Gerd Leonhard Public Deck wide-print  PDF with my slides — extra wide … Continue reading "New video with Futurist Gerd Leonhard’s keynote at Springsplash 2019 in Helsinki. The Future: Awesome humans on top of amazing technology"

Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are changing how we interact with the world by doing it for us (via TheNextWeb, on VUIs)

“A survey of more than 1,500 online shoppers revealed that up to 43 percent of voice-enabled device users have used VUI (Voice User Interfaces) to shop, and half of them have used voice to research products before buying. 22 percent of these consumers buy directly from a voice search, and 17 percent use VUI to … Continue reading "Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are changing how we interact with the world by doing it for us (via TheNextWeb, on VUIs)"

Audio version of my keynote at SAP Transform 2019: Technology and Humanity – the next 10 years

Here is the complete audio version of my keynote at SAP Transform 2019 in Munich.

Futurist Gerd Leonhard: Open letter to the Partnership on AI (take 2)

When machines have an IQ of 50,000, what happens to human values and ethics? By Gerd Leonhard  Futurist , Author Technology vs Humanity The partnership on AI has just announced some new members and a board of trustees, and Apple has finally joined Facebook, Google / Deep Mind, IBM, Amazon and Microsoft. This development has prompted me to … Continue reading "Futurist Gerd Leonhard: Open letter to the Partnership on AI (take 2)"

A Must-Read Future Report: 2019 Technology Trends by Amy Webb

Are you also feeling a bit disoriented when you hear any of the following terms: Ambient tracking, Bounty Programs, Solar Highways, 5D Printing, Digital Frailty, Nanobot Nurses, and Thinkables? Relax, these are just some of the more exotic examples out of the 315+ technology and science trends report by The Future Today Institute, aka Futurist Amy … Continue reading "A Must-Read Future Report: 2019 Technology Trends by Amy Webb"