Technology and magic
People are wrong in many curious ways. A new one I noticed is assuming that a goal is silly, because people in the past tried to achieve it in silly ways. The thinking, if it can be called that, goes … Continued
The most adaptable thing in nature
Tardigrades can survive an extremely broad range of environments, including: Temperatures between -272°C (a degree above absolute zero) and 150°C. Pressures between a hard vacuum and 6000 atmospheres (six times the pressure at the bottom at the Mariana trench). 10 … Continued
Why the blank slate is sticky
The notion that laws of nature apply to humans gets called a lot of nasty names, such as “biological determinism”, but it is simply consistent science. This really shouldn’t be controversial. We now know all human traits have a genetic … Continued
The commercial case for Mars
First of all, commercializing Mars is not the point – colonizing Mars and becoming multiplanetary is good in itself. That being said, anything that’s self-sustaining and self-replicating grows exponentially to fill all available space. In the case of space, that’s a … Continued
Elon Musk’s master plan to save humanity and stuff
One common criticism of Elon Musk goes like this: “Musk is spreading himself too thin in ten thousand different projects, dividing his attention and endangering success in the ones that already seem to be on a good track. He should … Continued
Beware Chinese bearing gifts – especially ones involving government computers
In 2012, the Chinese government has generously built, “for free”, a new $ 200 million headquarters for the African Union in Addis Ababa, including a sophisticated computer system. In the most unsurprising plot development in history, the building was recently … Continued
My islamist Uber driver and modern slavery
Uber gets fairly criticised for unethical business practices, and unfairly criticised by taxi drivers scared of superior competition. There are, however, at least two giant problems that you rarely hear addressed. For one, a solid proportion of Uber drivers are … Continued
Why I’m done with Apple
In short, because their products are now mediocre, and their business practices are evil. I’ll be the first to admit being, for a time, a giant Apple fannoun (I’m not sure we’re allowed to say “boy” anymore). This was in … Continued
Humans in space and the founder effect
Humanity will probably not remain a single species in the future. There’s a thing called the founder effect, which “…occurs when a small group of migrants that is not genetically representative of the ancestral population settles in a new area”. You … Continued
Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface startup – let’s do even better.
Fellow time-travelling artificial intelligence uploaded into a passable, but not entirely convincing human body Elon Musk has unveiled a new company – Neuralink. Ever the man to go after whatever promises the greatest possible benefit to mankind, he will be developing brain-computer … Continued
Digital rococo – why your shoehorn probably doesn’t need wifi
The basic design principle of keeping things simple is nowhere as needed as in consumer technology. Because nowhere else is there a greater tendency to overclutter products with pointless, expensive functions that really don’t work that well. A recent epic … Continued
The self-driving future
When was the last time you rode a horse to the grocery store? Yeah, me neither. Point is, nobody in the future is going to drive. By “nobody”, I mean a few eccentric hobbyists who actually enjoy driving, myself included, … Continued
A great solution to “robots destroying jobs”
The solution to the robot “job apocalypse” isn’t just to invent new jobs – it’s also to revisit old ones that we’ve temporarily neglected. The more menial, generic work is done by the machines, the more demand there will be for … Continued
What the hell happened to the future?
posted in: Economics, Entrepreneurship, Future, How to fix the world, How to human, Science!, Spaaaaaaaace!, Tech |
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When the world’s most valuable company presents a new product, I expect it to be a Martian colonial module, a fusion reactor or a hyperdrive, not a touch band to add emoji to messages half a second faster. There are multiple kinds … Continued
Should everyone learn programming?
People in tech have been arguing whether programming is something that everyone should know at least a bit (pun not intended), or whether it should remain a highly specialized and exclusive (i.e. expensive) skill. There are two camps: 1) The reasonable people … Continued
Universal Basic Income – an exercise in fencesitting
posted in: Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Future, How to fix the world, How to human, Science!, Tech |
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Cover photo credit: James Cridland. On June 6th, the Swiss rejected Universal Basic Income (UBI) in a referendum by an overwhelming margin of 77 to 23 %, which I publicly predicted on reddit weeks ago based on intimate knowledge of the … Continued
Yes, you should start a business “in this economy”.
By now, I could start most articles with “popular opinion has stuff the wrong way around“. For instance, you hear people saying they want to start a business, but worry that “the economy” might not be good enough right now. Let me … Continued
VW emissions scandal
The purpose of this article is not deliberately playing devil’s advocate, however, not jumping on hysterical bandwagons frequently looks like devil’s advocacy. The entire planet knows that Volkswagen got caught cheating on emissions. On the face of it, this is a … Continued
Startups and Cultural Optimism
I make a lot of fun of the startup culture. And to be sure, there is a lot to make fun of. However, I have a secret to share. I am actually enthusiastic that this is what young people today … Continued
Apple watch this
On watches The CEO Of TAG Heuer said that he’s “pleased about the Apple Watch“, because “Apple will get young people used to wearing a watch and later maybe they will want to buy themselves a real watch.“ Aside from … Continued