No.60 Asides

Ten predictions for 2019. Nesta already out of the blocks with their predictions.
Gender, Race and Power. “Outlining a New AI Research Agenda.”
The Quartz AI Studio will help journalists use machine learning. Same general direction of tech enhanced journalism as The Markup?
Kickstarter resource centre to nudge users towards launching more sustainable products.
🐮🌿📹 How could veganism change the world? “Interest in vegan food and its associated health benefits has been booming across the rich world. A global retreat from meat could have a far-reaching environmental impact.” I’d call this more of a thought experiment than a plan but the last minute is important, considering drastic reduction, instead of veganism.
Speaking of which: Your meals are speeding up climate change, but there’s a way to eat sustainably. (Five tips and a useful visual on the impact of different proteins.)
Maersk pledges to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050. “We will have to abandon fossil fuels. We will have to find a different type of fuel or a different way to power our assets. This is not just another cost-cutting exercise. It’s far from that. It’s an existential exercise, where we as a company need to set ourselves apart.”
What We’ve Learned from Dieter Rams, and What We’ve Ignored. “If you listen to Rams rather than just look at the elements of his edited world, you will appreciate how his aesthetic and his ethic align. ‘Less, but better, is not a constraint, it is an advantage which allows us more space for our real life.’”
Lots of great collaborators in the second issue of Ding Magazine, “A magazine about the Internet and things.” I’m going to have to nitpick though and mention that the design and capturing of the cursor and clicks on their website is a bit odd for a project supported by … Mozilla.
Announcing Better Worlds: a science fiction project about hope. Looking forward to this! “10 original fiction stories, five animated adaptations, and five audio adaptations by a diverse roster of science fiction authors who take a more optimistic view of what lies ahead in ways both large and small, fantastical and everyday.”
What our science fiction says about us. Nothing super new which is why I’m not featuring it more but a good one on Chinese and Russian scifi as well as Afrofuturism, all within a bit more historical context than “hey they are cool now!”