This event is free of charge and will be live-streamed on Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitch and many other platforms (not on Facebook:).

I will present for 15 minutes, followed by an open q&a session with the audience (using commenting and chat). See what it looked like in the previous episode.

AI-fuelled, data-driven and automated ‘media’ has become extremely powerful and omni-present in our lives. Digital feudalism is the new normal, and the surveillance economy is pervasive. Facebook/Meta is the prime example of what goes wrong when algorithms, an obsession with monetization and a general lack of respect for human principles and ethics run the show…

or you can register via LinkedIn (and watch it there, as well, and comment, as well).

See you there!

Recently, I was invited by the Embassy of Canada in Switzerland to create this special presentation and edu-promotional video discussing the Future of Education and to explore how Canada is leading the way. 

Citizens offer mixed reviews of how their societies have responded to climate change, and many question the efficacy of international efforts to stave off a global environmental crisis.

Kim Stanley Robinson’s novels envision the dire problems of the future—but also their solutions. The Ministry for the Future” may be sci-fi, but its science isn’t fictional.

We now occupy a nearly natureless world. By Alan Lightman. “Many of us invest hours each day staring at the screens of our televisions and computers and smartphones. Seldom do we go outside on a clear night, away from the lights of the city, and gaze at the dark starry sky, or take walks in the woods unaccompanied by our digital devices. Most of the minutes and hours of each day we spend in temperature-controlled structures of wood, concrete, and steel. With all of its success, our technology has greatly diminished our direct experience with nature. We live mediated lives. We have created a natureless world….”

Elon Musk put his viewpoint in a slightly more alarming way: “For an A.I., there would be no death. It would live forever. And then you’d have an immortal dictator from which we can never escape,”

From Microsoft to Meta, the race is on to sell an amorphous concept that no one really wants them to build.

To see the tendrils of big tech and social media extending towards the places that have been a refuge for me and millions of others is disturbing. I don’t trust these people with the future. The more I hear about the metaverse, the less I want to do with it.

One couple’s recent nuptials in the virtual world known as the metaverse showcase the possibilities of having a wedding unfettered by the bounds of reality.

The metaverse is basically a next-level immersive social network and Internet of Things platform – a virtual copy of the real world in which everything is interconnected instead of siloed and in which the virtual has the same level of permanence as the real world. Think VR and AR, avatars, holograms, ‘teleportation’, and more – on steroids.

Meta executive Nick Clegg told the FT that advertisers could use eye-tracking data from users’ VR headsets to measure engagement with ads.

With the Internet on everyone’s minds in 1995, Bill Gates kicked off the Comdex technology show with his vision of the future. Fast forward to 2021, and Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision for the Metaverse at Facebook Connect.

» The so-called Metaverse might well be a ‘nirvana’ for business, big tech and commerce but it may also be boldest attempt yet to replace actual human relationships and experiences with highly monetizable simulations, reducing complex human life to data feeds and fancy graphics. Check out my new Metaverse speaking topic.

The latest links on what I call the Metaperverse

Also check out my GoodReads list. Start with The Every by Dave Eggers.

» ‘The Good Future EXPLAINED’: Futurist Gerd Leonhard’s new must-see video on why the future is better than we think - #TheGoodFuture Explained: Digitization, Decarbonisation, Reformation #Futurist Gerd Leonhard #2022

I am kicking off this year with a special new show called GerdTalks, a bi-weekly series of free LIVE events broadcasted via my YouTube channel and LinkedIn, as well. Each show features 15 minutes of fast-paced presenting on current yet future-relevant topics… Latest updates here.