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Malleable Systems: Software must be as easy to change as it is to use it
The user wants open software, software that can be modified, and that can participate in a progressive improvement process. — J.C.R. Licklider, Some Reflections on Early History (1986)
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Interview: Wie Barcelona eine offene „Smart City“ im Dienste des Gemeinwohls plant
Im Interview spricht Francesca Bria, Barcelonas Chief Technology and Digital Innovation Officer, über „Digitale Soziale Innovation“ und passende Strategien, um die lokale Wirtschaft, Privatsphäre und die demokratische Teilhabe der Bürger*innen auch in einer „Smart City“ langfristig zu sichern und zu fördern.
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Satellites Are Helping to Track Food Supplies in Coronavirus Era (Bloomberg)
As the coronavirus pandemic leads to anxiety over the strength of the world’s food supply chains, everyone from governments to banks are turning to the skies for help. Orbital Insight, a California-based Big Data company that uses satellites, drones, balloons and cell phone geolocation data to track what’s happening on Earth, has seen inquiries about monitoring food supplies double in the past two months, according to James Crawford, founder and chief executive officer of the company.
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'Abolish Silicon Valley' Author Urges 'Expropriating' Platforms, Making them Open-Source Public Services (Book)
Q: How do you fix this broken system? A: Overall the goal that I'm thinking about is that you have the private sector so overfunded and glorified that it seems like the only way to do things, but things could be much better serviced by the public sector without the profit motive that the private sector demands. Reclaim the wealth from capital, push back capital and fund public innovation... Right now the way it works is all these tech companies are predicated on a very particular way of regulating work and will hire people short-time and pay them nothing and not provide them with safety nets.
There are also companies that shouldn't necessarily exist. A lot of companies are being funded to do something the public sector could've provided. Instead of good public transit, we have Uber. Instead of a good social mobility system, we get paid scooters. What people want is to streamline a centralized system that is run in a way that is accountable and actually serves the public...
My Utopian view is to put tech companies in full public view. Expropriate platforms and turn them into municipal services, public services and make them open-source.
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Coronavirus Shutdown: The End of Globalization and Planned Obsolescence – Enter Multipolarity (strategic-culture)
The coronavirus pandemic has shown that the twin processes of globalization and planned obsolescence are deficient and moribund. Globalization was predicated on a number of assumptions including the perpetuity of consumerism, and the withering away of national boundaries as transnational corporations so required. What we see instead is not a globalization process, but instead a process of rising multipolarity and a rethinking of consumerism itself.
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"Let's work together to respond to this global crisis, to save people's lives, to save the future of global economy, and to save the future of the global community. This is our paramount task," said Chinese Ambassador to the United States.
"If we aim at a new system of international governance that is open, inclusive, that is based on mutual respect among all countries, on the full recognition of the diversity of culture, civilization, political system, economic system, if we can do this, then I think all the things are ready for us to build a new and effective international governance system. We have to make the right choice now," he noted.
"If we can still call this a wakeup call, I think we should have woken up long time ago, but still, if we have not started yet, we have to start real efforts to build a good international governance system for the 21st century, for the future," he said, adding big countries including the U.S. and China have great responsibilities in spearheading the efforts.
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“Don’t fool around with the masks of reality until you can handle the reality of masks.” - Robert Anton Wilson (Cosmic Trigger 3: My Life After Death)
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The wind blows so consistently strong around Greenough, Western Australia, that unprotected trees grow horizontally.
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The Focus of Designers. Slide my talk "Augmentation, Amputation, Dehumanisation - Towards Life Centered Design" (2019)
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Brain Warfare: The Covert Sphere, Terrorism, And The Legacy Of The Cold War - Essay By Timothy Melley (MITPress, 2011)
On October 2, 2005, three months after the coordinated bombing of the London transportation system and three days before the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved John McCain’s Detainee Treatment Act, British Home Secretary Charles Clarke attempted to explain terrorism via a specter of the Cold War. Islamic terrorists, Clarke argued, should not be seen in the “‘classic’ mould of revolutionaries fighting for a political cause.” Rather, they are like educated youths “brainwashed”into joining cults. Indeed, Clarke added, perhaps “anti-brainwashing techniques”could be used to “deprogramme” terrorists—converting them back to productive citizens essentially by running brainwashing protocols in reverse.
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UK government using confidential patient data in coronavirus response (Guardian)
"Technology firms are processing large volumes of confidential UK patient information in a data-mining operation as part of the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak"
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Meicai: China’s Unicorn Farm-to-Table Startup (radiichina)
Farm-to-table is a direct relationship between a specific farm and a restaurant. Originating from China, Meicai is a app that allows users to get produce delivered from a farm straight to the comfort of their homes. It was established in 2014 by owner Liu Chuanjun. Meicai assures that the harvests reach the location within 12 to 18 hours after the order has been placed. Its consumers range from individuals to 10 million restaurants. The company is valued at over $7 billion.
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Coping with Covid19 – the Open Food Network and the New Digital Order(s)
With Covid19, aka the coronavirus, come restrictions on people’s outdoor movements and gathering. This means that, while supermarkets are considered essential, it seems to be case by case for other food markets: instantly, farmers markets are shutting all over Europe with serious consequences for small producers. Digital food platforms have never been more urgent. In this new restricted mobility context, Open Food Network is perhaps the best example of a good food network that’s digitised, cooperative, open source, not for profit and ready for your community.
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In summary: Bill Gates talks about creating a vaccine with low side effects so it can be given to 7 billion people. He says he wants to use his vaccine to vaccinate the entire population. He also says he’ll need indemnification to be protected from all lawsuits.
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NASA contemplates turning a moon crater into a giant, powerful telescope (CNet)
NASA has selected a lunar-crater radio telescope idea to receive funding through its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, the agency announced on Tuesday. The Phase I award goes to projects in very early stages of development. Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, a robotics technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is the mind behind the moon dream. Making it happen would require sending robots to the far side of the moon and using the machines to deploy a wire mesh over a crater.
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Image from: "Limpopo-based recycling co-operative wins SEED Award" A recycling cooperative is an industrial cooperative, co-owned and maintained by either workers or consumers, which specializes in the recycling of various materials. Such cooperatives are either non-profit or not-for-profit; a major theoretical benefit of mass co-ownership is that raw recycled materials can become increasingly and equally distributed among the membership population at a low cost, be it for reusage at home or for reusage in the manufacturing of newer goods or versions of goods to be sold to customers at cheaper prices than would be possible with freshly obtained raw materials.
