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February 17 · Issue #66 · View online
These are the best links and must-reads aggregated by Gerd Leonhard, Futurist & Humanist, Keynote Speaker, Author of 'Technology vs Humanity', Film-Maker (The Good Future) and CEO of The Futures Agency in Zürich / Switzerland.
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Greetings and I hope you are well. Here is the latest edition of my newsletter - I hope you enjoy it, and thanks again for being a subscriber. Cheers from Zurich, Live long and prosper
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Free Live-Streaming Event: Why Facebook/Meta must be dismantled and how to reboot social media (GerdTalks #3)...
Facebook / META has become toxic and must be purged. I will present my case against Meta and explore the future of social media. This event is free of charge and will be live-streamed on Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitch and many other platforms (not on Facebook:). 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…
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You can also sign-up here on Eventbrite to get email reminders
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The Future of Education: my video / film for EduCanada
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.
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Reminder: The Future is better than we think!
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Climate Change Concerns Make Many Around the World Willing to Alter How They Live and Work | Pew Research Center
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.
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Can Science Fiction Wake Us Up to Our Climate Reality? | The New Yorker
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.
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This Is No Way to Be Human - The Atlantic
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….”
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“That’s Just the Next Step in Evolution”: Silicon Valley Is Ready for Robots To Kill Us All
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,”
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Big Tech Needs to Stop Trying to Make Their Metaverse Happen | WIRED UK
From Microsoft to Meta, the race is on to sell an amorphous concept that no one really wants them to build.
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I’ve seen the metaverse – and I don’t want it | Games | The Guardian
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.
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Getting Married in the Metaverse - The New York Times
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.
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The metaverse: blurring the lines between our physical and virtual worlds
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.
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Meta wants to track your eye movements and facial expressions as you roam the metaverse, patents suggest
Meta executive Nick Clegg told the FT that advertisers could use eye-tracking data from users’ VR headsets to measure engagement with ads.
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Watch Zuckerberg's Metaverse (2021) vs Gates' Internet (1995)
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.
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Gerd's take on the Metaverse / Metaperverse (new video): Heaven or Hell?
» 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.
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Metaverse...or Metaperverse?
The latest links on what I call the Metaperverse
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My Recommended Books
Also check out my GoodReads list. Start with The Every by Dave Eggers.
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In case you missed this: ‘The Good Future EXPLAINED’ video on why the future is better than we think
» ‘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
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Announcing ‘GerdTalks’, my new live-streaming show on Youtube!
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.
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Zürich Switzerland www.futuristgerd.com
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