Category: Technology and Humanity
A key message from my ‘Exponential Change’ film: anything that cannot be digitised or automated becomes extremely valuable !
… and that means HUMAN-ONLY skills and idiosyncrasies Watch the entire film below (4 mins). Download the film (300MB MP4) (OK to reuse under cerative commons attribution non-commercial license)
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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 went online at TheGuardian “Taking after George Orwell and JG Ballard, some of the most prophetic and disturbing fiction about the near future continues to be made on TV and film…” Part of the reason that the near future is enjoying such a boom at … Continue reading "My comments on “What Black Mirror, Her and the near-future genre tell us about tomorrow” (TheGuardian)"
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Digital Obesity or Analogue Anorexia? Welcome to the Future (expanded excerpt from “Technology vs Humanity”)
No escape from the data tsunami? Note: this post has been excerpted, expanded and adapted from my new book “Technology vs Humanity” (read more here, buy it on Amazon, buy singles or bulk orders from the publisher – use discount code GL1) The amount of information, data and media information available to us is growing at warp … Continue reading "Digital Obesity or Analogue Anorexia? Welcome to the Future (expanded excerpt from “Technology vs Humanity”)"
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Even the BAXTER bot enjoys reading my new book “Technology vs Humanity” (and a drone is delivering it)
Images by Matt McLelland – Thanks ! Buy the book via Amazon or directly via my publisher. Read more about the book here. Read the reviews. Read the bottom lines. Watch the films.
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New podcast: a conversation with futurists Richard Watson and Gerd Leonhard, discussing our new books: Digital vs Human, and Technology vs Humanity
Here is a brand-new podcast with my futurist colleague Richard Watson who just published a great book called ‘Digital vs Human‘. Richard’s book is a great read; he addresses very much the same topics and issues than my own book ‘Technology vs Humanity’ in much the same way (albeit with a very different voice) -and it … Continue reading "New podcast: a conversation with futurists Richard Watson and Gerd Leonhard, discussing our new books: Digital vs Human, and Technology vs Humanity"
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Is it time to become exponentially human?
By Gerd Leonhard, Future-Thinker and Humanist, Zürich, Switzerland, November 7, 2016 IS IT Time to become exponentially human? Machines can increasingly mimic the human brain and may indeed soon outpace it in certain respects such as calculations per second or storage capacity. Yet I believe that for the foreseeable future no mechanical apparatus, algorithm or bot … Continue reading "Is it time to become exponentially human?"
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My open letter to the ‘Partnership on AI to benefit people and society’ (Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, MSFT) just went online at Wired UK
Read it here and please spread the word ! Dear Francesca, Eric, Mustafa, Yann, Ralf, Demis and others at IBM, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Amazon. The Partnership on AI to benefit people and society is a welcome change from the usual celebration of disruption and magic technological progress. I hope it will also usher in a more holistic … Continue reading "My open letter to the ‘Partnership on AI to benefit people and society’ (Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, MSFT) just went online at Wired UK"
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The future of keynotes is here: The Future Show LIVE
During the past few years, I have been thinking a lot about how to make my keynotes even more immersive, more interactive, more personal… and more like an experience. Working with my art director Jean Francois Cardella – who will join me for all TFS Live shows, going forward – I have finally found a … Continue reading "The future of keynotes is here: The Future Show LIVE"
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Black Mirror really nails the key issues of the near future (technology vs humanity)
I’m a huge fan – read this piece, and watch the clips below. Technology is a malevolent tool for dehumanization in ‘Black Mirror’… Created by Charlie Brooker and heavily inspired by Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, most episodes of Black Mirror are set in a not-so-distant future. They vary greatly in subject matter and tone, but … Continue reading "Black Mirror really nails the key issues of the near future (technology vs humanity)"
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Are you ready to abdicate your humanity? If not, read my new book “Technology vs. Humanity”
Are ready to Abdicate Your Humanity? If not, read Technology vs. Humanity There are many stages in our love affair with technology, starting with the first casual flirtation with mobile phones, email or file-sharing. How cute these now seem as the icons of Big Tech casually contemplate our impending augmentation and bio-technological optimization (watch this, visit this site, … Continue reading "Are you ready to abdicate your humanity? If not, read my new book “Technology vs. Humanity”"
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There is a blind spot in AI research – good read via nature.com
Yet the ‘deploy and comply’ approach can be ad hoc and reactive, and industry efforts can prove inadequate if they lack sufficient critical voices and independent contributors. The new AI partnership is inviting ethicists and civil-society organizations to participate. But the concern remains that corporations are relatively free to field test their AI systems on the public without sustained research on medium- or even near-term effects.”
There is a blind spot in AI research
https://www.nature.com/news/there-is-a-blind-spot-in-ai-research-1.20805
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Some of my best slides from this week’s keynotes: technology-humanity, AI, Megashifts and more
Here they are (all subject to creative commons attribution non commercial license – except for those images that are by 3rd parties)
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Gerd Leonhard and The Future Show at SIBOS 2016: man machine futures, technology vs humanity?
This piece was published during Sibos 2016: Gerd-leonhard-SIBOS MAG 2016 pdf (download the PDF to read the entire piece) One of the keynote speakers at this year’s Sibos, American futurist and author Gerd Leonhard, argues for an urgent rethink of the relationship between man and machine. Here he explains why the big decisions rest with us “Human … Continue reading "Gerd Leonhard and The Future Show at SIBOS 2016: man machine futures, technology vs humanity?"
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TV Interview on the future of technology, banking, digital ethics & humanity: Gerd Leonhard SIBOS 2016
Watch this pretty far-ranging interview, covering a lot of really important themes from my book and of course from The Future Show LIVE which premiered at SIBOS 2016 as well Experience the future like never before with this innovative event concept designed for challenging decision makers. Technology is changing our world exponentially and humanity will change … Continue reading "TV Interview on the future of technology, banking, digital ethics & humanity: Gerd Leonhard SIBOS 2016"
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Humans are going to have the edge over robots where work demands creativity (says Tim Dunlop) via TheGuardian
The second big change is post-industrialisation. Wealth is being created – not by making and selling physical things – but in areas of knowledge, information and financialisation.
These areas simply do not need as many workers as traditional employers. Where Kodak used to employ 140,000 people and was valued at $28bn (and is now bankrupt thanks to digitisation), Instagram was sold to Facebook in 2012 for a billion dollars when it (Instagram) employed 12 people.
Facebook itself is the sixth-largest company in the US, but it employs a mere 12,000 people full time. Compare that to, say, General Motors, which during the 1980s employed 349,000 workers in the US alone.
Google, one of the richest corporations on the planet, only employs about 55,000 people worldwide.
You get the picture.”
Humans are going to have the edge over robots where work demands creativity | Tim Dunlop
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/sep/26/humans-are-going-to-have-the-edge-over-robots-where-work-demands-creativity
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Via Technology Review: most experts say AI isn’t as much of a threat as you might think – what do you think?
His findings are presented as probabilities that human-level AI will be attained by a certain time:
By 2022: 10 percent.
By 2040: 50 percent.
By 2075: 90 percent.”
Most experts say AI isn’t as much of a threat as you might think
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602410/are-the-experts-worried-about-the-existential-risk-of-artificial-intelligence/
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My slides from Cognition (HfS) 2016 New York: digital ethics and the future of business
Here is the deck from today’s fabulous event in New York. Thanks to Phil Fersht for inviting me! digital-ethics-and-the-future-of-business-cognition-ny-gerd-futurist-public-web 11MB PDF Update: here is the MP3 audio recording, as well! Enjoy: Gerd is considered a leading voice on a wide range of topics including digital transformation and the discovery of digitally-native business models, the opportunities and … Continue reading "My slides from Cognition (HfS) 2016 New York: digital ethics and the future of business"
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Technology Vs Humanity: Forbes intervista Gerd Leonhard. Nice Italian translation of my themes
Dici che l'umanità cambierà più nei prossimi 20 anni rispetto ai 300 anni precedenti. Perché pensi che questo sia vero quando la maggior parte dei progressi tecnologici sembrano aver avuto poco a che fare con gli umani, piuttosto che l'effetto o i problemi che hanno creato agli umani stessi?
La tecnologia viene sempre creata dagli umani e a sua volta ridefinisce ciò che possiamo fare e che faremo. Ogni singolo cambiamento tecnologico ora sta impattando l'umanità in un modo più profondo rispetto al passato perché, presto, la tecnologia impatterà la nostra biologia, principalmente attraverso l'ascesa dell'editing del genoma e dell'intelligenza artificiale.”
Technology Vs Humanity: Forbes intervista Gerd Leonhard
https://www.controcorrenteblog.com/2016/09/technology-vs-humanity-forbes-intervista-gerd-leonhard.html
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Slides from my presentation at the London Futurists event Birkbeck College: Technology versus Humanity
Thanks for having me at this event. Here is the slide-deck: technology-versus-humanity-gerd-leonhard-presentation-futurist-london (20MB PDF) Futurist Gerd Leonhard’s new book has the provocative title “Technology vs. Humanity: The coming clash between man and machine”. This book brings together mankind’s urge to upgrade and automate everything – including human biology itself – with our timeless quest for freedom and happiness. Fast Future Publishing writes: Before … Continue reading "Slides from my presentation at the London Futurists event Birkbeck College: Technology versus Humanity"
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Audio and Video of my keynote at Mercedes Benz Vans Innovation Campus in Stuttgart Sept 7, 2016: the future is already here!
Event details. Thanks to Mercedes Benz Vans for asking me to speak and for making this video available me! This was a pretty amazing event, indeed! Download the slides: mb-vans-the-future-is-already-here-gerd-leonhard-public-deck Audio-only:
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