New Wilderness / Asimov on creativity & having new ideas / Living in Space / What’s a ‘Smart City’ Supposed to Look Like? / Desert of The Real — No.86

The New Wilderness Sharp take here by the multitalented Maciej Cegłowski, introducing the idea of “ambient privacy,” the society level intersection of everyone’s individual privacy which surveillance capitalism is eating away. He ponders how this loss affects our democracies and then makes (as others have done) the parallel with the environment; something that was so […]

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AI Can Thrive in Open Societies / The Past, Present, and Future of AI Art / Save Our Food, Free the Seed / Rethinking Technological Positivism — No.85

I attended a small event this week. When entering the room they asked for everyone to leave their phone in a box, to be claimed on exit. “So that people would talk more.” At the end of the event, the embargo being lifted and everyone still being encouraged to talk, most people lined-up to get […]

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Not Relevant for Fantasy Purposes. Human Civilization (Probably not) Coming to an End Within 30 Yrs. Plan to Save the Planet by Working Less. — No.84

This Week: Not Relevant for Fantasy Purposes. Human Civilization (Probably not) Coming to an End Within 30 Years. The Radical Plan to Save the Planet by Working Less. Data Training Program at the NYT. A year ago: Tackling the Ethical Challenges of Slippery Technology. Not Relevant for Fantasy Purposes More of a thought experiment than […]

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Handle the post-truth. Systems Collapse, People Rise. Speculative Design & Glass Slaughterhouses. Design Is Not an Intellectual Exercise. — No.83

This week: You can handle the post-truth. As Systems Collapse, People Rise. Speculative Design and Glass Slaughterhouses. Design Is Not an Intellectual Exercise. How Politicians and Scholars Turned Against Big Tech. A year ago: The need for readers. You can handle the post-truth: a pocket guide to the surreal internet Eminently quotable piece by Aaron […]

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It’s 2059, and the Rich Kids Are Still Winning. Nnedi Okorafor. The Dark Forest Theory. AGI Has Been Delayed. New Zealand’s Liberal Milestone. — No.82

Summer is (supposedly) here which means vacations and traveling. If you’re a reader and end up swinging by Montréal, email me, lets grab coffee. This Week: It’s 2059, and the Rich Kids Are Still Winning. Nnedi Okorafor. The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet. AGI Has Been Delayed. New Zealand’s Next Liberal Milestone. Data is […]

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Sociological & psychological strorytelling. Bell talks anthropology. Bullet time. Why I (Still) Love Tech. AI with an Indigenous worldview. — No.81

This week: Sociological and psychological strorytelling. Genevieve Bell talks anthropology. Bullet time. Why I (Still) Love Tech. Artificial intelligence with an Indigenous worldview. A year ago: Barcelona is leading the fightback against smart city surveillance. The Real Reason Fans Hate the Last Season of Game of Thrones Although it’s technically about GoT, this piece by […]

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Tiny Neural Networks. Bezos Space Habitats. The Cement Ban. The art of noticing. Jellyfish supper. — No.80

Probably of interest to very few readers but just in case; I managed to wrangle up a pass so this week I’ll be attending C2 Montréal, hit me up if you’re around. This week: Tiny Neural Networks. Bezos Space Habitats. The Cement Ban. The art of noticing. Jellyfish supper. A year ago: The Key to […]

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Born-Digital Publications. Science Fiction Doesn’t Have to Be Dystopian. Generalists Triumph in Specialized World. IPBES. Industry, rules, AI. — No.79

This week: Born-Digital Publications. Science Fiction Doesn’t Have to Be Dystopian. Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. IPBES. Attenborough. Industry, rules, and AI. A year ago: AI researchers allege that machine learning is alchemy. Born-Digital Publications When the “about us” pages are super interesting, you know you’re in for something excellent to explore. Cita Press […]

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Digital future for newspapers. Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation. Nothing Fails Like Success. Political Moment for Climate Change. — No.78

This week: Digital future for newspapers. Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation. Nothing Fails Like Success. Extinction Rebellion and a Remarkable Political Moment for Climate Change. Venice and Fairbnb. A year ago: The economics of artificial intelligence. Want to see what one digital future for newspapers looks like? Look at The Guardian, which isn’t losing money anymore […]

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Smart cities the wrong way. Built to shill. Extended Intelligence. Dare to declare capitalism dead. ‘Unbelievable’ facial recognition machine. — No.77

This week: Thinking of smart cities the wrong way. Built to shill. Extended Intelligence. Dare to declare capitalism dead. An ‘unbelievable’ facial recognition machine. A beautiful book house. Chestnut agroforestry. A year ago: What Will Our Society Look Like When Artificial Intelligence Is Everywhere? You’re thinking about smart cities in completely the wrong way Francesca […]

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A Vision for a Shared Digital Europe. New Ways of Seeing. Climate Rebellion. Wrongheaded nature protection. Cities Are Rising in Influence. — No.76

This week: A Vision for a Shared Digital Europe. New Ways of Seeing. Climate Rebellion. It’s wrongheaded to protect nature with human-style rights. Cities Are Rising in Influence and Power on the Global Stage. A year ago: City Everywhere by Liam Young (Lecture Performance). A Vision for a Shared Digital Europe This new vision for […]

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AI changing lives. D&D is cool. Surveillance. A studio for ideas. Undersea cables. Right to repair. GoT. — No.75

This week: AI changing lives. D&D is cool. Surveillance. A studio for ideas. Undersea cables. Right to repair. GoT. A year ago: Cities need a modern-day Hanseatic League to get bargaining power on self-driving cars. How will AI change your life? Really really good interview with the AI Now Institute founders Kate Crawford and Meredith […]

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Public libraires. Could We Blow Up the Internet? The Third Phase of Clean Energy. AI music. Zuck and Bengio. — No.74

This week: Public libraires. Could We Blow Up the Internet? The Third Phase of Clean Energy. AI music. Zuck and Bengio. A year ago: Half Life: The Decay of Knowledge and What to Do About It In Praise of Public Libraries It’s a bit weird how many people (including some politicians) seem to think public […]

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Getting cities our of cars. Copyright horror. Intelligences. Bogost. Malaise self-care. Civic Futures. Turing. — No.73

Lots of replies to last week’s issue (thanks!) but also an abnormally low open rate which makes me think that more than a few of you didn’t get No.72, do have a look in your various automated “M@rketing and sp@m” folders to catchup. This Week: Getting cities our of cars. Copyright horror. Intelligences. Bogost. Malaise […]

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Natural’s Not in It. Futurism Needs to Get Real. Reinvent democracy. A Future Without Fossil Fuels? Face masks get fashionable. — No.72

It’s not a new interest, but after recently including the piece On Foresight in Organisations by Stuart Candy in Sentiers at Work No.4, I’ve been on a bit of a foresight / forecast / futurism trajectory, thus lots of mentions of “future” in this week’s selection. Btw, feel free to point me to practitioners of […]

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AI in art and science. Design Nonfiction. A tech supra-state? Greta. Hudson Yards. The tool to travel through layers. — No.71

This week: AI in art and science. Design Nonfiction. A tech supra-state? Greta. Hudson Yards. The tool to travel through layers. A year ago: How To Become A Centaur. The AI-Art Gold Rush Is Here Excellent read by Ian Bogost on a quite fascinating intersection of art, history, AI, blockchain, and money. It also connects […]

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Reading and Wandering. Economics After Neoliberalism. Economism, technocracy, and citizens. Magicverse. Aquaponics. A minister for the unborn. — No.70

This week: Reading and Wandering. Economics After Neoliberalism. Economism, technocracy, and citizens. Magicverse. Aquaponics. A minister for the unborn. A year ago: Small b blogging. Rebecca Solnit on a Childhood of Reading and Wandering Great essay on libraries and forests, reading and wandering, and the connections between all. I felt like highlighting all the quotes […]

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Metamodernism. Everything is connected. The Big Nine and AI. Bezos on Blue Origin’s mission. Deutungshoheit. — No.69

This week: Metamodernism. Everything is connected. The Big Nine and AI. Bezos on Blue Origin’s mission. Deutungshoheit. A year ago: The Art of Laser Focus. You don’t decide what you are more focused on, you discover the direction and the alignment. Metamodern Values for a Listening Society Excellent long interview with Hanzi Freinacht. It’s a […]

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Naam on GND. Super-tall in NYC. Mirrorworld. Netflix expanding your interests. Insects. Peper Q&A with Harkaway. — No.68

Naam on GND. Super-tall in NYC. Mirrorworld. Netflix expanding your interests. Insects. Peper Q&A with Harkaway. A year ago: Why Decentralization Matters. How to decarbonize America — and the world Ramez Naam expanding on his Twitter thread I linked to last week, with lots more detail. His central point is that electricity generation and transport […]

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Fortnite as Metaverse. Design from homescreen to city. Supposedly ‘fair’ algorithms. German ruling. Plummeting insects. — No.67

Back in the days of The Alpine Review, working on a photo spread layout with our designer, she mentioned aligning the eyes of a horse in one picture with the eyes of a sailor on the previous page. Élise said that even though most readers wouldn’t see the connection, she believed that they could sense […]

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Schneier on Blockchain. AOC’s Green New Deal resolution. Three layers of identity. Purpose. VR. And a vegetative Faraday cage. — No.66

Because I’ve been meaning to try it again and time was a bit short this week: a different format for this issue, no categories, just a series of my most interesting / note-worthy finds. A year ago: The House That Spied on Me. No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology Bruce Schneier with a methodical […]

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A high five that can’t land. Model Metropolis. A flâneur approach to social media. Micromobility. Greta Thunberg. The Big Here. — No.65

This week: A high five that can’t land. Model Metropolis. A flâneur approach to social media. Micromobility. Greta Thunberg. The Big Here. A year ago: Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs A high five that can’t land Charlie Loyd beautifully weaving together stories about a bridge in Oakland, the Shinkansen to Hokkaido, […]

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Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism. Big-tech-brother. Architecture that is more than green. Paradox Mystery format. More-than-human design. — No.64

A very Warren Ellis issue this week. I couldn’t get his Normal and abyss gaze out of my head after reading the first couple of pieces below and I’m linking to him concerning book formats in Miscellany. Enjoy. A year ago: Ursula K. Le Guin passed and I linked, among other things, to her Rant […]

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Intellectual humility. Automation Bites Back. Gradually, Then Suddenly. Defending Earth’s biodiversity. Light electric vehicles. Oumuamua. — No.63

Quick note that I completely redid the template for this newsletter, partially based on the Tinyletter styling. I’m trusting their code but do get back to me if you encounter display issues. Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong Excellent piece at Vox on reasons for and signs of intellectual humility in […]

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Future books, mags, publications. Very Slow Movies. Shenzhen to Africa. Hassabis. Cafes. Libraries. Trappist monks. — No.62

Welcome back and happy new year! Lots of stuff so lets get right to it. (Admin notes and announcements, if any, will now be found at the end.) The ‘Future Book’ Is Here, but It’s Not What We Expected Craig Mod looking at what “we” thought would be the future of the book and where […]

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