I have written and spoken a lot about how technological progress is incompatible with privacy. One example I have used is someone bioengineering a virus in their basement. It turns out a much simpler example is what we are seeing today: a new virus that’s spreading. We cannot both have fast, easy international travel and also have privacy of travelers. If you travel and later come down with the coronavirus, we need to know where you went and who else may have been exposed. At a minimum societ...

I have written and spoken a lot about how technological progress is incompatible with privacy. One example I have used is someone bioengineering a virus in their basement. It turns out a much simpler example is what we are seeing today: a new virus that’s spreading. We cannot both have fast, easy international travel and also have privacy of travelers. If you travel and later come down with the coronavirus, we need to know where you went and who else may have been exposed. At a minimum societ...

In yesterday’s post I summarized the 2010s as fighting past battles that keep us stuck in the industrial age. The agenda for the 2020s should be about inventing the knowledge age instead. The suggestions here draw heavily on my book World After Capital. So without further ado, here are six key areas to work on in the 2020s. 1. FIGHT THE CLIMATE CRISIS If we don’t get on top of the climate crisis, nothing else will matter, so I am putting this one first. Read: The Uninhabitable Earth by David ...

In yesterday’s post I summarized the 2010s as fighting past battles that keep us stuck in the industrial age. The agenda for the 2020s should be about inventing the knowledge age instead. The suggestions here draw heavily on my book World After Capital. So without further ado, here are six key areas to work on in the 2020s. 1. FIGHT THE CLIMATE CRISIS If we don’t get on top of the climate crisis, nothing else will matter, so I am putting this one first. Read: The Uninhabitable Earth by David ...

For any billionaire out there: fund nuclear fusion now! Consider this: the people who fund successful nuclear fusion are guaranteed a spot in the history books. And that spot will be immediately followed by spots for anybody else who spent serious money ($100 million+) and did not succeed. Why? Because clean electricity is absolutely crucial to fighting the climate crisis. Is this realistic? Can we achieve nuclear fusion in our lifetimes? Having looked into the state of research, I believe it...

For any billionaire out there: fund nuclear fusion now! Consider this: the people who fund successful nuclear fusion are guaranteed a spot in the history books. And that spot will be immediately followed by spots for anybody else who spent serious money ($100 million+) and did not succeed. Why? Because clean electricity is absolutely crucial to fighting the climate crisis. Is this realistic? Can we achieve nuclear fusion in our lifetimes? Having looked into the state of research, I believe it...

Today is the impeachment vote in the House of Representatives. It will be fascinating to see if any Republicans at all will support impeachment in the House. In an extraordinary display of abdication of any allegiance to the United States constitution, Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham have already indicated that they have no interest in conducting a fair trial in the Senate but will instead take all their cues from the White House. The damage that the Republicans are doing here to ...

Today is the impeachment vote in the House of Representatives. It will be fascinating to see if any Republicans at all will support impeachment in the House. In an extraordinary display of abdication of any allegiance to the United States constitution, Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham have already indicated that they have no interest in conducting a fair trial in the Senate but will instead take all their cues from the White House. The damage that the Republicans are doing here to ...

Last week I started digging into electricity as part of my posts the climate crisis. Today’s post continues that by looking at the potential increases in the demand for electricity from moving transportation to electric vehicles (EVs). To start with, it is quite difficult to wrap one’s head around just how much we drive in the US. In one year there are about 3.25 trillion (yup trillion) vehicle miles. I have found it difficult to find a recent breakdown of that by vehicle type, but in 2016 ab...

Last week I started digging into electricity as part of my posts the climate crisis. Today’s post continues that by looking at the potential increases in the demand for electricity from moving transportation to electric vehicles (EVs). To start with, it is quite difficult to wrap one’s head around just how much we drive in the US. In one year there are about 3.25 trillion (yup trillion) vehicle miles. I have found it difficult to find a recent breakdown of that by vehicle type, but in 2016 ab...

On this last day of the 2010s here is a recap with a single theme: we are fighting the battles of the past instead of inventing the future. We are doing that at a time when humanity is facing an extinction level threat in the climate crisis that also represents our single biggest opportunity for transformation. The ongoing debate about capitalism versus socialism is fundamentally caught up in the industrial age. It assumes that ownership and control of physical capital are paramount at a time...

On this last day of the 2010s here is a recap with a single theme: we are fighting the battles of the past instead of inventing the future. We are doing that at a time when humanity is facing an extinction level threat in the climate crisis that also represents our single biggest opportunity for transformation. The ongoing debate about capitalism versus socialism is fundamentally caught up in the industrial age. It assumes that ownership and control of physical capital are paramount at a time...

Today I am celebrating my 53rd birthday. I am fortunate to be doing so with friends and family and, knock on wood, in good health. This makes it all the more important to me to continue helping to fight the climate crisis. Susan and I have kicked off several projects to that end. One of these projects has been to work with Climate Crisis Collective (CCC) to build better technology for decentralized climate movements, such as Fridays for Future, Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. We re...

Today I am celebrating my 53rd birthday. I am fortunate to be doing so with friends and family and, knock on wood, in good health. This makes it all the more important to me to continue helping to fight the climate crisis. Susan and I have kicked off several projects to that end. One of these projects has been to work with Climate Crisis Collective (CCC) to build better technology for decentralized climate movements, such as Fridays for Future, Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. We re...

I have written previously about the need to regulate the use of facial recognition technology. The calls for regulation have become stronger in the wake of Kashmir Hill’s New York Times article about Clearview AI. It is extremely important to get this right. Here are a few more thoughts based on the article to add to my prior post. First, it should be clear by now that it has become almost trivial to build a system like this. A lot of open source frameworks and neural networks have been made ...

I have written previously about the need to regulate the use of facial recognition technology. The calls for regulation have become stronger in the wake of Kashmir Hill’s New York Times article about Clearview AI. It is extremely important to get this right. Here are a few more thoughts based on the article to add to my prior post. First, it should be clear by now that it has become almost trivial to build a system like this. A lot of open source frameworks and neural networks have been made ...

The Democratic primary is coming into focus and it is not a pretty picture. Essentially the choice comes in two groups: incrementalists (Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, Klobuchar) and socialists (Sanders, Warren). The incrementalists want to go back more or less to the Obama years, while the socialists want to go back to the 1970s in Europe. For the incrementalists digital technology is nothing special and for the socialists it is mostly an evil to be fought. Then there is the one exception, the...

The Democratic primary is coming into focus and it is not a pretty picture. Essentially the choice comes in two groups: incrementalists (Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, Klobuchar) and socialists (Sanders, Warren). The incrementalists want to go back more or less to the Obama years, while the socialists want to go back to the 1970s in Europe. For the incrementalists digital technology is nothing special and for the socialists it is mostly an evil to be fought. Then there is the one exception, the...

I am spending the last two days of the decade cleaning up. We moved into our current place about 8 years ago and have accumulated a lot of stuff during that time period. It will be interesting to see how far I get but I am planning to at least sort out all my clothes and electronics. While I won’t go for a strict Marie Kondo approach, I tend to err on the side of getting rid of more rather than less. Thankfully the weather here in New York is being fully cooperative with cold rain that makes ...

I am spending the last two days of the decade cleaning up. We moved into our current place about 8 years ago and have accumulated a lot of stuff during that time period. It will be interesting to see how far I get but I am planning to at least sort out all my clothes and electronics. While I won’t go for a strict Marie Kondo approach, I tend to err on the side of getting rid of more rather than less. Thankfully the weather here in New York is being fully cooperative with cold rain that makes ...