Rachel Botsman The trust expert challenges what we think we know about power, control, and the truth.
Bruce Schneier Hacking society: how tech and policy must come together to face the threats of our interconnected world.
Seth Godin The marketing pioneer and online ‘ruckus maker’ on doing work that matters for people who care.
Genevieve Bell Keeping the humanity in technology in a future of artificial intelligence and cyber-physical systems.
Rachel Botsman
Bruce Schneier
Seth Godin
Genevieve Bell
“We do not think enough about what we believe and why we believe it. What is our filter? What is our perception of reality? What is the trigger that has made us think something is true?”
Trust, the age-old currency of all our interactions, is being transformed by technology. According to Rachel Botsman, rapid technological change demands ever larger ‘trust leaps’ from us as we try to navigate the many new unknowns in our lives, our work, and our societies. As a leading expert and author on trust, she aims to challenge and change our understanding of power, influence, truth, and the many other factors that influence how, whom, and whether we trust. Indeed, ‘Who Can You Trust?’ is the title of Rachel’s most recent book – and it’s a question we can’t afford not to ask in this era of pandemic lockdowns, deepfakes, and data exploitation.
“It’s no longer sustainable to pretend that your system ends at the keyboard and screen. It encompasses the people who use it and the society it is embedded in.”
A strong, independent voice on privacy and security, Bruce Schneier has for decades called attention to the fragility of the internet and of our tech-dependent world. As the author of over a dozen books – including his latest, Click Here to Kill Everybody – a fellow at Harvard, and an advocate in the private sector, his work helps us understand the delicate nature of the digital and cyber-physical systems that hold society together, so that we may better defend them in the face of threats both old and new. A leading voice in the emerging field of public interest technology, Bruce is urgently calling for a new generation of professionals who can speak tech to power.
“What if, instead of finding readers for my writing, I did writing for my readers?”
Seth Godin is an infectiously curious entrepreneur, marketer, and blogger who thinks deeply about how we can use the lessons
of marketing to adapt our businesses and our selves to the realities of the digital age. In his many books, his legendary blog, and his vast array of online workshops, he shares his unique take on creativity and storytelling to help others realise what he describes as the primary goal of marketing – making change happen in the world. Seth’s core message offers a simple yet refreshing way to think about success, one that is firmly rooted in sufficiency and empathy: ‘Do work that matters for people who care.’
“Even very individualistic people tend to want to believe in a bigger thing – that’s how nations came into being, and it’s why we have both sport and war.”
Genevieve Bell is on a mission to build a new branch of engineering that effectively and ethically manages the impact of AI on humanity. As a distinguished professor at the Australian National University and a Senior Fellow at Intel, her career spans an impressive gamut of achievements. It’s her background as a trained anthropologist, though, that injects a much-needed human perspective into the conversation about artificial intelligence and the next generation of cyber-physical systems. Genevieve embraces her role as a storyteller who helps people better understand our human-computer relationships. At the same time, she insists on asking many difficult questions to ensure that the best of what makes us human will be reflected in the technologies of tomorrow.
Take a break from your screen. Be inspired by thoughtful conversations in beautiful print.
Telling a New Tale
Food for thought by Molly Flat.
The Abundance Trap
Food for thought by David Cain.
Interview
Rachel Botsman on facing the unknown, making ever bigger trust leaps, and dealing with an accelerated decline in institutional trust.
A Day With
Spend a day with Sankalp Agarwal.
A Day With
Spend a day with Daphnie Loong.
Interview
Bruce Schneier on the fragile state of the internet, the evolving vulnerabilities of the ‘Internet Plus’, and the urgent need for public interest technologists.
Rules of Business
Guiding principles for doing business, by Saron Yitbarek.
Interview
Seth Godin on being responsible for the culture we create, setting our sights on ‘enough’, and doing work that matters for people who care.
Bright Signals
Projects and ideas that help realise tech’s promise, curated by Kai Brach.
Interview
Genevieve Bell on the arc of AI, looking back to formulate questions about the future, and developing a blueprint for an AI-ready society.
Ten Things I’ve Learned
Carl Tashian and Emily Dela Cruz share ten life lessons from working on the web.
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Please read our launch notes on this issue.
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