A crisis on this scale can reorder society in dramatic ways, for better or worse. Here are 34 big thinkers’ predictions for what’s to come. Read full Article
Only 2 weeks since previous edition, but it feels like the harvest of a full month. Enjoy! A fantastic well research set of premonitions on Culture, Brands, Space, Entertainment, Tools, Politics, Death. Very good, tout court. Read full Article
This insight resonates with the 17th-century philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. Lovelock is the inventor of Gaia theory, the idea that the Earth is one living organism that regulates and strives to preserve itself. Read full Article
What does it mean to be human? Biology has a simple answer: If your DNA is consistent with Homo sapiens, you are human — but we all know that humanity is a lot more complex and nuanced than that. Read full Article
In 2003, the wife of a 55-year-old Vietnamese carpenter named Le Van died. Heartbroken, he dug up her grave, cast her body in clay and slept next to “her” for five years. The story is unsettling, but there’s also something universal about his struggle to let go. Read full Article
Introduction Freud’s disciple, Otto Rank once wrote that the “need for a truly religious ideology … is inherent in human nature and its fulfillment is basic to any kind of social life”. Read full Article
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are introducing massive changes across the global economic landscape. AI is now the basis for a wide range of mainstream technologies including medical diagnosis, financial accounting, factory assembly, and self-driving cars. Read full Article
Measuring What Counts: The Global Movement for Well-Being Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand The New Press (2019) “In abnormal times the normal rules don’t apply and people obey them at their peril. Read full Article
We were naive to think that digital technology would be intrinsically and inevitably more empowering than any medium that came before it. Yes, digital networks are more directionless and decentralized than their broadcast predecessors. Read full Article
There are many conflicting views emerging on the timing of an economic new normal. Regardless of the source, all of it at some level is speculation. There is too much uncertainty to do prediction justice. That doesn’t mean that talented prognosticators can’t take a shot. Read full Article
In a remarkable Easter Sunday letter to members of social movements around the world, Pope Francis, noting that the widespread suffering caused by the global coronavirus pandemic does not fall evenly, suggested that the crisis warranted the establishment of a universal basic income. Read full Article
The internet has become a fundamental part of commercial and personal life. It is easy to forget that more than one-half the world’s population – 3.9 billion people – are not online. Significant barriers remain to connectivity. Read full Article
DW: I’m really taken by the idea of overcoming death in your new book, “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.” I’m not especially keen on it myself. Read full Article
Stock markets around the world had some of their worst performance in decades this past week, well surpassing that of the global financial crisis in 2008. Restrictions in the free movement of people is disrupting economic activity across the world as measures to control the coronavirus roll out. Read full Article
With automation and artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more commonplace in business, there will soon become a need for Chief Ethics Officers to monitor how these technologies are being used. Read full Article
We are on the cusp of a massive economic contraction and a total reset of the global economy. The Coronavirus pandemic has metastasized into a global crisis that experts predict will very likely kill millions and unleash a worldwide economic depression. Read full Article
The ongoing pandemic has put the entire world on hold. Public activities have been cancelled – even the release of the newest James Bond movie – while popular votes around the globe have been postponed. However, there is no reasons for autocrats, nationalists and populists to declare victory. Read full Article
