You are probably sick and tired of the buzzwords of the 4th Industrial Revolution. We are being replaced by robots, manipulated by cobots, we are employing 5G and RPA, optimizing processes and digitizing factories; yet the real revolution in manufacturing going on now is much more subtle. It’s all about materials. Material science has developedContinue reading “Biomaterials are Revolutionizing Whole Industries”
Category Archives: future
A dictator’s dream: social media, machine learning and the end of democracy
Social media and machine learning offer the perfect tools to control society
The Era of Voice and Image Cloning: Can You Believe What You Hear and See?
Over the past years, we have learned to live with fake news, which has been largely limited to articles on fake news sites. “Fake news”isn’t really a big problem. Statements can be fact-checked, authors can be questioned as to whether they ever made this or that statement. Audio statements (interviews) and images are used asContinue reading “The Era of Voice and Image Cloning: Can You Believe What You Hear and See?”
Zuckerberg’s manifesto is dangerously political and naive
In case you haven’t heard, in the wake of fake news criticism, the founder of Facebook has released a manifesto that outlines the future of Facebook. It is extremely political, idealistic, and downright naive. What’s more, it’s downright dangerous. Zuckerberg wants to use his influence, his platform, and AI to save globalization. At the core ofContinue reading “Zuckerberg’s manifesto is dangerously political and naive”
Are you a FAAAN? 5 Companies to Rule Them All.
Remember the 90s? Remember Microsoft’s antitrust troubles? For years, the software giant was in the crosshairs of government officials because it was deemed too dominant and needed to be broken up. Well, those times are back, only this time, nobody is crying foul. There are now five companies who are ruling the world and haveContinue reading “Are you a FAAAN? 5 Companies to Rule Them All.”
Tech Countries Will Soon Become Agriculture Giants
Taiwan is an agricultural paradox. On the one hand, the subtropical island is ideal for growing anything from avocados to zucchini and is indeed largely self-sufficient in some important crops, say rice. It produces some of the most amazing fruit in the world. Big, juicy, delicious, and largely GMO-free. Anyone who’s ever visited will tellContinue reading “Tech Countries Will Soon Become Agriculture Giants”
“Give me a smile!” A review of the Trump years
It is 2024. This week, America will elect a new president. Donald J. Trump has announced that he wants to focus on running his media empire, which his sons have spent the last eight years building. TrumpNews is now the most watched news network in the world, guaranteed free of fake news. In the election,Continue reading ““Give me a smile!” A review of the Trump years”
The True Meaning of Industry 4.0 for Manufacturers
Germany has been bandying about the slogan Industry 4.0 for about 10 years now, yet most people still don’t know what it is all about. It is an excellent piece of marketing slang, both extremely complicated to understand and yet brilliantly simple. Even those who get it, however, mostly fail to grasp the implication ofContinue reading “The True Meaning of Industry 4.0 for Manufacturers”
The Fall of the Language Barrier Brings Huge Cultural Challenges
The time has come when machine translation, first conceptualized in the 1960s, is finally useful. Google and hundreds of smaller companies have developed algorithms, mined data, used human translation examples and employed syntactic and contextual analysis and every tool in the book to come up with software that essentially breaks down the language barrier completely. YouContinue reading “The Fall of the Language Barrier Brings Huge Cultural Challenges”
Practical Blockchain Applications Are Taking Off
In my first article on the blockchain I listed some random ideas for non-financial blockchain applications based on my own preliminary vision of the technology. The post received a lot of attention. Many people messaged me saying that I was overestimating the potential or misunderstanding the technology. Some of the reactions were constructive criticism. InContinue reading “Practical Blockchain Applications Are Taking Off”
Deflating Towards Utopia
Politicians and bankers still seem to think that low inflation is a temporary problem. It is not. We are quickly moving towards a complete deflation of the economy. Central banks have inflation targets. We want inflation, because with inflation, money is more expensive in the future, thus better spent today. Inflation means growth, deflation meansContinue reading “Deflating Towards Utopia”
Blockchain Is the Most Disruptive Invention Since the Internet
By now you are sure to have heard of Bitcoin and the blockchain technology. Even so, very few people seem to realize that the blockchain won’t just kill banks, brokers and credit card companies. It will change every transactional process you know. Simply put, blockchain eliminates the need for clearinghouse entities of any kind through the principle ofContinue reading “Blockchain Is the Most Disruptive Invention Since the Internet”
Are We Facing a Deluge of VR Disorders?
Psychological disorders caused by prolonged exposure to PC games are already a serious issue. In 2015, two Taiwanese men died from marathon gaming binges within three weeks of one another. Deaths have also been reported in China, Korea, the USA, and Vietnam. Excessive gaming reportedly causes problems with logical thinking and the ability to interactContinue reading “Are We Facing a Deluge of VR Disorders?”
Borders, Barriers, and Biedermeier
Technology is largely to blame for the trend away from globalization
