Unraveling politics, technology, & philosophy through questions without answers.
After finishing the first pages I knew this book would be one that would reach the top 5 of this year's reads, and if you are of curious nature then this book will find a place in your list as well. As long as you can step into Barry Lopez' life "with an open mind and an eager heart."
To explore is to travel without a hypothesis."
Technology has become part of our being, or as Alexander Stubb said; “we are already cyborgs, phones just haven’t been officially attached to us yet.” If you would ask me to not use my phone for a month it would severely hinder my life just as much as the next one. It is great, practising my music hobby has never been easier. No waiting in front of a recorder for hours to make your own playlist by taking songs from the radio.
However, as in the example of music, all aspects of life are becoming digital. There are no mechanical parts to objects to be felt, heard, or touched. This brings many advantages, devices are more portable, durable, faster, just to name a few. But the downside is that it has become impossible to understand how things work, and this applies to all life improving appliances. Could this be a case of disappearing curiosity?
...continue reading "The case of the disappearing curiosity"
Technological advancements are being kicked into high gear. Finding someone - centenarians excluded - without a phone and social media app installed on it is as rare as hens’ teeth. All registering with social media are asked to agree with a terms of service and conditions (ToS) agreement that is intentionally long to discourage readers. This can lead to some interesting, yet unsurprising, outcomes- a study in 2016 found that over 500 participants unwittingly agreed to give their first born to the company overlords. Whilst the Rumpelstiltskin-esque demand would never hold up in court, it does show how eager we are to throw away our rights signing online contracts, without bothering to see what we're giving away.
During the Dotcom bubble, Google had to change its revenue source to keep its head above water. The method they chose set the example for all future tech giants and created a very lucrative business model. Before 2002 Google used the data, it gathered from search requests, to improve the search engine itself. With every search, there was a behavioural data surplus that remained unused. This previously "surplus" data now makes up 86% of Google's livelihood, and similar practices can be found at other tech companies. User’s accumulated data over the years has proven to be a gold mine for tech companies, but at what point did they inform users? ...continue reading "The terms and conditions of your Social Contract"
Part one of two(?) on data and society. 1. The Pros
China trials a social scoring system which is set to launch in 2020. This new scoring system has been covered in the western media as what George Orwell describe in his book 1984 as Big Brother. Now we all know that big data and the collection thereof is evil, and I as an individual should have the only access right to my personal information. However, on the academic side, there are not a lot of peer-reviewed articles available yet on the precise social and political implications of this subject. Whether that is because of the novelty of the issue or that the information is behind locked doors, is uncertain. China's system is often compared to the ID number system in India called Aadhaar, while different from the outset, they both dabbling in new data realms. Most news articles that are written about these systems dive into the punishments and rewards, because, the truth is, that is what is most interesting to read about. How will it affect a person's life? And is it as scary as it sounds?
...continue reading "Big data & reality mining; the bright side"
21 lessons for the 21st-century, unsurprisingly, caught my interest because it goes exactly into the topics discussed in this blog. So many of the lessons touch upon challenges we face in this age and Yuval Noah Harari tries to set a frame or define, how we should approach these topics. From religion, to fake news, to technology, no stone has been left unturned. It is precisely this aspect that it should be worth your time to explore its 372 pages to see if any of the lessons: 1. Resonate with what you think is important & 2. Explore in what direction one must look for an answer. Overall a book I would recommend, but it would not be an honest review if I do not highlight some of its pitfalls.
...continue reading "[Book review] 21 lessons for 21st century – Yuval Noah Harrari"