Category: Technology and Humanity

Tim Cook (Apple) talks technology and humanity – riveting speech at MIT commencement address 2017. wow.

“When technological advancement can go up so exponentially I do think there’s a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.””

Tim Cook says Apple is not behind on artificial intelligence
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608051/tim-cook-technology-should-serve-humanity-not-the-other-way-around/
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Heard that somewhere before :)



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Futurist David Brin: Be a Proxy activist ! Love this concept (and yes, I am, also)

Be a proxy activist

Brin believes everyone should be a proxy activist. That means you find half a dozen nonprofit organizations to give $50 a month to, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation or others that represent your point of view. Fail to do so and “you’re a bad person,” in his view. The same way nonprofits help tackle issues of injustice, he says these organizations can help keep the sort of AI that seeks to rule humans at bay.”

Futurist David Brin: Get ready for the ‘first robotic empathy crisis’
https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/03/futurist-david-brin-get-ready-for-the-first-robotic-empathy-crisis/
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I kinda do that already :)
Nice meme, David 

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Beyond business as usual: the Internet of Things, AI, Technology vs Humanity? Full-length video of my keynote at IoT World Forum in London

Thanks to the Internet Talent Consortium and Cisco for making this video available – I think it’s one of the best talks I have  ever given on the topic of Technology vs Humanity, the IoT and AI. Visit the event website for all of the other presentations held on that day. Download the slide-deck: IoT … Continue reading "Beyond business as usual: the Internet of Things, AI, Technology vs Humanity? Full-length video of my keynote at IoT World Forum in London"

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What are androrithms (Gerd Leonhard’s neologism from the Technology vs Humanity book)

One of the powerful key memes from my Technology vs Humanity book are androrithms. What does it actually mean? This is a key neologism in the book (i.e. a word I made up). I use the term to describe what really matters for most of us: human ‘rhythms’ not machine rhythms i.e. algorithms. A super-computer can win … Continue reading "What are androrithms (Gerd Leonhard’s neologism from the Technology vs Humanity book)"

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Here is my presentation from the TIETO Leadership event in Helsinki, today: transforming for the future

Here is the deck!  Thanks to Tieto for inviting me. Check out the tweets here and here. Tieto Leadership transforming for the future Helsinki gerd leonhard 4DIS low res Some best-of-images:

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‘Westworld,’ ‘Black Mirror’ and other tech-driven shows delve into what it means to be human

“Sticky big-picture questions like that are meat and potatoes this season for such series as "Humans," HBO's "Westworld," USA's "Mr. Robot" and Netflix's "Black Mirror." At first glance, these shows may seem to be about subservient robots, murderous mechanical bees or modern-day computer hackers who aspire to change the world with their code, but dismiss them as "mere" science fiction at your peril. They feature some of the most philosophically complex, thoughtful storytelling on TV, and even though they take place in alternative future universes, they are relevant to today's tech-obsessed world.”

'Westworld,' 'Black Mirror' and other tech-driven shows delve into what it means to be human
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-st-technology-on-tv-20170525-story.html
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Here is my deck from INTA 2017 in Barcelona: the digital transformation of society and what that may mean for the future of intellectual property

Here is my deck from INTA 2017 in Barcelona: the digital transformation of society and what that may mean for the future of intellectual property

Very interesting session in Barcelona today.  Here are the slides, as promised! In this talk, I addressed the future of IP, copyright, patents and trademarks in the context of an exponentially changing world.  The video will be available soon, as well – stay tuned. digital transformation of society and future of intellectual property INTA 2017 … Continue reading "Here is my deck from INTA 2017 in Barcelona: the digital transformation of society and what that may mean for the future of intellectual property"

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New film by Futurist Gerd Leonhard: Technology vs Humanity – the future is already here!

I am delighted to present this exciting new film on the key topics of my recent Technology vs Humanity book. We shot this in Barcelona, earlier this year, and some of the footage is really special I think. The light and the land/city-scape is just amazing! If I may say so myself, the core messages from my book (embrace … Continue reading "New film by Futurist Gerd Leonhard: Technology vs Humanity – the future is already here!"

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Video and slide-deck from my DOTS2017 Prague keynote: digital transformation, humanity and technology – the future (updated)

This was a really great event here in Prague: DOTS 2017. I enjoyed hearing Satya Nadella speak about his vision on the future of Microsoft – exciting stuff. He’s from the future, too:) DOTS 2017 Praque Digital Transformation Technology Humanity Futurist Gerd Leonhard Public  27 MB PDF Digital technology transforms day-to-day business. Yours too?  That’s why we … Continue reading "Video and slide-deck from my DOTS2017 Prague keynote: digital transformation, humanity and technology – the future (updated)"

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Facebook’s plans to augment reality are as dystopian as they are smart (via TheVerge)

“Facebook didn’t shy away from the marketing opportunities AR provides. In fact, it embraced the idea that you could hover your viewfinder over a restaurant and be told its Yelp rating, or find messages your friends leave you in public locales by peering through the camera lens on Facebook’s app. It seems clear that for every consumer benefit AR provides, there will also be a corporate one designed to exploit our attention, extract our wants and needs, and attempt to sell us products.”

Facebook’s plans to augment reality are as dystopian as they are smart
https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/20/15375694/facebook-augmented-reality-dystopian-future-f8-2017
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Artificial intelligence, thinking machines and the future of humanity – new video of my keynote at the Accenture CIO Forum in Hong Kong

This just arrived 🙂  Thanks to Accenture Hong Kong for inviting me, and for making this video available. More about the event here. Download the MP4 file here Download the deck from this talk: AI Thinking Machines and Humanity Futurist Gerd Leonhard low res   PDF 20MB

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…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/
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New video: Accenture CIO Summit Hong Kong: video of panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence

More details here

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Shared keynote presentation: AI, thinking machines and the future of humanity (Futurist Gerd)

I am trying out a new feature of Apple Keynote – shared public presentations (download for Apple Keynote users only). All images and the file itself subject to creative commons attribution non-commercial license, as usual. Have fun! If all fails, here is the PDF download:  AI Thinking Machines and Humanity Futurist Gerd Leonhard Some images and slideshare … Continue reading "Shared keynote presentation: AI, thinking machines and the future of humanity (Futurist Gerd)"

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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
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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 it’s about security and technology, in general. His recent piece ‘Click here to kill everyone’ is a must-read for anyone looking at the future of technology, and in particular the Internet of Things (IoT). While preparing for my upcoming keynote at the IoT World Forum … Continue reading "The dangers and challenges of the Internet of Things – crucial points made by Bruce Schneier"

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Why the IoT Will Give Rise To Artificial Intelligence (good read via Forbes )

“Chatbots have received some attention recently, as several large companies have announced progress in their development. The ultimate goal is for these to replace all other platforms across devices—covering laptops, tablets, smartphones, and everything else in IoT. Rather than opening a browser, searching for “Italian food” by area, and then clicking through websites, one would simply verbally request the nearest location with the highest ratings. The chatbot would do all of the work and produce an answer. This kind of interaction and immediate response places much more power in the hands of the consumer than ever before.

Though some may read this and assume Siri has it covered, she’s a long way from the true potential of this arena. An individual’s work, personal projects, social contacts, and family calendars could all be connected and accessible through a chatbot. This could revolutionize the way people function in relation to their devices.”

Why IoT Will Give Rise To Artificial Intelligence
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2016/08/11/why-iot-will-give-rise-to-artificial-intelligence/
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My keynote at SAP Italy Executive Summit 2017: exponential technological (r)evolutions and responsible leadership (video and slide deck)

My keynote at SAP Italy Executive Summit 2017: exponential technological (r)evolutions and responsible leadership (video and slide deck)

This video was just published by SAP Italia, here. Find out more about the event, here. Here is the edited slide deck SAP Lake Como exponential technological change and the future of humanity gerd leonhard PUBLIC  22MB PDF and the video and the audio only  

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True AI is both logically possible and utterly implausible says Luciano Floridi (via Aeon Essays) 5* read on AI

“Both Singularitarians and AItheists are mistaken. As Turing clearly stated in the 1950 article that introduced his test, the question ‘Can a machine think?’ is ‘too meaningless to deserve discussion’. (Ironically, or perhaps presciently, that question is engraved on the Loebner Prize medal.) This holds true, no matter which of the two Churches you belong to. Yet both Churches continue this pointless debate, suffocating any dissenting voice of reason.”

True AI is both logically possible and utterly implausible – Luciano Floridi | Aeon Essays
https://aeon.co/essays/true-ai-is-both-logically-possible-and-utterly-implausible
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Your animal life is over. Machine life has begun. The road to immortality. Great read via the Guardian!

“In his early teens, Koene began to conceive of the major problem with the human brain in computational terms: it was not, like a computer, readable and rewritable. You couldn’t get in there and enhance it, make it run more efficiently, like you could with lines of code. You couldn’t just speed up a neuron like you could with a computer processor.”

‘Your animal life is over. Machine life has begun.’ The road to immortality
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/25/animal-life-is-over-machine-life-has-begun-road-to-immortality
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