Technological progressions have always changed how we behave. But AI has much more far-reaching potential to change the very meaning of what it is to be a human.
Category: Future
Whether governments exercising control or protest movements needing a boost, upstart social media platforms matter in places like Russia, Poland and India.
The concept of smart cities is a kind of received wisdom among planners and technologists, but our digital world of today is not sustainable.
Facial recognition cameras have imposed themselves in every nook and cranny of Chinese life — to the point where a concern is growing within the population and certain cities are reacting.
Before it even began, the pandemic was already on the radar of big risks — and yet we were unprepared. Will it be the same for cyber security and environmental threats?
There’s a reason many Africans are wary of the identification technology: It doesn’t work as well for people with dark skin. That’s where Charlette N’Guessan, a young Ivorian researcher, comes in.
Consumers are convinced. Wall Street is buoyant. Demand around the world for app-based services is booming, with entire nations stuck at home during COVID-19 lockdowns and the prospect of goods and services at their door with just a click. As the so-called “Gig Economy” spreads alongside the pandemic, society has struggled to keep up. • […]
Play is a fundamental part of childhood development. But when it comes to toys, as one nursery in Bavaria has shown, there’s something to be said for moderation.
Europe is moving forward in a united front to force Big Tech that could lead to a historic showdown on the future of how the digital economy functions.
For a number of weeks now, Beijing has been trying to regain control of its internet heroes, who are considered too dominant. E-commerce giants and their standard-bearer, Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma, are directly in the line of fire.
Technology itself is neither plague nor panacea for our sustainable, inclusive food future. It is always humans who choose which innovations to pursue, and how to use them. The revolution of digital technology presents this challenge in new and old ways, and our choices must be guided by clear morals that view food production and […]
Registering facial recognition data with a biometric authentication application is all the rage in China, but it comes with major privacy concerns.
In Latin America, where half of all jobs are off the books, businesses can’t tap into the vast and potentially valuable resource of data to usher in digital transformation.
If you hated greenwashing, you’ll be appalled by green colonialism.
Chinese-backed projects are bringing irreperable damage to the Mekong, the largest freshwater fish source in the world feeding millions of people living along its banks.
A new crop of Tunisian engineers are coming up with clever ways to help farmers streamline their operations and adjust to a changing climate.
Though it may undermine free speech, Ethiopians seem accepting of government-ordered Internet shutdowns to curb rioting fomented online.
SÃO PAULO — One of the world’s most important biodiversity regions is experiencing the worst drought and the worst series of wildfires in decades. Yes, the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland area, in western Brazil, is burning. So far this year, fires have scorched more than 1.2 million hectares of land, about eight times […]
From Zoom changing the way we work to artificial intelligence changing the way we shop, we’ve gotten used to reading about how information technology influences our daily habits and drives the world economy. But lately, we’re also seeing technology make more and more front-page headlines in the realm of politics and diplomacy. U.S. President Donald […]
BERLIN — Germans are feeling the heat. For almost a week now, temperatures have been over 86 °F (30 °C) in most of the country, and every day a local council pleads with its residents not to fill up their paddling pools again. Last weekend, authorities asked residents of Lauenau in Lower Saxony to buy […]
Unless we question the socio-economic structures associated with the production of waste and waste management, we’ll never dig out of the waste crisis.
PARIS — Last week’s explosion at a port warehouse in Beirut, which killed at least 200 and caused a minimum of $5 billion in damage, should serve as a sobering wake-up call for countries that have equally (or more) dangerous chemical reserves. Beyond the human toll and material consequences, the catastrophic event has also triggered […]
COURMAYEUR — When the alarm sounded last year, it was because the ice on the Mont Blanc, on the border between Italy and France, was moving too quickly. Its front had broken away from the rest of the ice lobe, separated by a huge crack, and descended three meters per day. Experts feared that 250 […]
Building scientific beliefs is a long and arduous path that originates from a contradictory process. But facing a pandemic, it’s the best we’ve got.
PARIS — It’s been a tumultuous few months for so-called “surveillance tech.” Most recently, following pushback from Black Lives Matter activists, Amazon has suspended police use of its facial recognition software for one year. IBM followed suit, announcing it will stop offering its similar software for “mass surveillance or racial profiling.” The moves from the […]
Whether or not they were looking for it, the COVID-19 crisis has given epidemiologists bonafide public power. “At this point, if Drosten says it is too early, that carries as much weight as Merkel saying it,” quipped German economist Marcel Fratzscher about his country’s top epidemiologist Christian Drosten and top politician Angela Merkel. There is […]
The colossal impacts of that tiny virus are visible from space. Wired magazine reported about a Colorado-based space technology company Maxartaking low-Earth orbit satellite photographs of COVID-19 hotspots, capturing images of empty cities, make-shift hospitals being constructed and airport rental car lots suddenly filled with cars as people stopped traveling. But the flipside question to […]
From long-distance pleasuring to hands-on stimulators, the 21st century adult toys market offers plenty of exciting options. Just don’t get hacked.
Two projects with billionaire Elon Musk’s name on it help highlight that the cause of saving the planet is a messy affair.
A new French bill is intended to protect the privacy and economic interests of minors who are going viral on YouTube and other social platforms.
Allowing Beijing to have a hand in the new, faster mobile network would entail significant risks. But in Germany, debate about 5G is also a question of who you like more: China or the U.S.
Expect use of blockchain, the digital record-keeping system, to become generalized this year in banks and elsewhere.
The tendency to compress language belongs not only to humans, but also to this particular African penguin species’ way of communication.
The country’s food and drug administration should be careful about rubber stamping medical products and procedures just because they’re shiny and new.
PARIS – “We’re proud to be pioneers…” It was a few days before Christmas, and Air France CEO Anne Rigail had a smile on her face, as she sat in an armchair surrounded by other noteworthy personalities, including Bertrand Piccard, co-pilot of the solar-powered plane Solar Impulse. Rigail was relishing the impact of an announcement […]
With automated electronic surveillance systems, suspicion does not precede data collection but is generated by the analysis of the data itself.
Modern languages are rich, beautiful and complex, and took ages to develop. Hearts and smiley faces? Not so much.
When reality transcends constitutional and legal provisions, you must be extra clever about social media use.
A Chilean startup develops an application to take office workers into a meditative ‘happy space’ for a few minutes in a work day.
LES ECHOS France’s Yellow Vests And The Problem With Post-Truth Economics Opinion shapers have a habit these days of disregarding facts, be they scientific or economic. Opinions matter, of course, but shouldn’t supersede well-founded knowledge. SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG RoboJudge: When Laws Are Transformed Into Computer Code Laws take time to catch up with reality. Could we […]