SMART CITY FANATIC

Last week. There was a little thing called a train strike.  The bad news? I could not visit the ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS SUMMER EXHIBITION!  The good to great news? I had a friend who ran to my aid and attended in my absence. Her name is SARAH GRAY.   We have been friends for around a decade, now. Sarah once hosted me for tea, after I attended the MILIPOL conference in Paris. I was struck by her kindness, generosity, talent, beauty and vision.  Now based in London, Ms Gray is what one might term a polymath. Good at and interested in, everything!   A fantastic mother of two great kids; businesswoman; designer; photographer and activist.  There is an old school, glacial, Grace Kelly like glamour to Sarah. But also, a compassionate, comforting aura.  A supernatural quality.   It occurred to me that, though it is indeed necessary to reach out and meet new 'influencers' via Instagram etc? I have an army of inspirational content creators, readied to m...

  Put simply... 1: It is whatever YOU want or need it to be. 2: Anything one can do in reality, done in virtual spaces and then linked up.  3: It is an interactive and 3-D world. Digital assets as substitute dress rehearsals for real world counterparts! 4: Yes, you need an 'avatar' name / role/ character. No, that is not an end in itself but merely means TO an end! 5: Yes: it is indeed, connected to 'crypto' and block chain currencies. No, one need not play with those tools in order to engage with said metaverse.  6: Is it web-3? Sure it is! As in, more interactive than web 1 (the basic internet circa dial up days) and web 2 (social media etc). Now? web 3: one can as good as live online! Short of actually eating, drinking, living etc. But ANYTHING ELSE? And i mean ANYTHING..is up for grabs! 7: It is indeed, an artistic platform. Bands can perform there! And yes, one can make money. That said? is that, in effect ANY different to the oldest websites, platforms, shares, et...

  Simple answer: the future is NOW. HERE. 1: Watch every current affairs talking point. If people are angry /annoyed/concerned? Chances are, tech has a solution! 2: Watch every tech company initiative. The ones that trend. Also, the ones that don't yet! 3: Check Linkedin : Pulse, especially, and its twitter pitches are legendary! 4: Pitch, baby, pitch! If you THINK you have 'that' idea for a tech start up to fly? Chances are, you might! 5: Check the social medias: what topics are trending? Chances are, at least one holds the key to the next app/pitch etc? 6: Consider YOUR personal experience. What are YIU lacking or missing in life and how can tech maybe help with that? 7: Survey the market! Which tech start-ups are growing and flying, vs which are tanking / stalling? Therein, lies a clue to what the future might hold and how you factor in  said.  8: Watch your competition. Whatever it is that they do, now? YOU must do, better, TOMOWRROW 9: Take a look at the following li...

 YES! And why not?  We have ALL read, with great interest, the news of the Google developer who left the empire. Why? Well. they think that the search engine has developed an AI which is now, prima facie 'sentient'. But so what? Seriously. Let's think about this, for one second.  1: It is just one person, leaving Google, saying things. Now, if there were a worldwide exodus of employees and contractors, abandoning ship? I might be worried. I'm not.  2: Now. That is not to say that anyone stating 'Google developed sentient AI' is, um, mad/delusional/wrong. Not in the slightest! But what I am saying, if I am saying anything at all , is: 3: GOOD! Seriously. I hope it IS sentient. Because if so, we just made a leap forward and yet, an inevitable one, which has been coming, for some time.  4: See, thing is? ALL AI is in, its way 'sentient'. As in: capable of thought, independence, initiative, agenda. It is just a tool. A method, rather than aim. The whole po...

 Short answer: NOTHING! I know. Controversial. But: consider that answer in the context of tech. The whole process of technology has in effect shifted, changed, destroyed, dismantled and reinvented the old service vs product paradigm. Think of it, this way: 1: An 'app' is all well and good.   Download it to phone. Use. Cue millions, even billions in revenue for the creators and an easier life for users.  But: HOW to USE it? In effect, the app requires its own training regimes. 'How to' guides etc. Has to be part of the whole package. Equally, chances are, said application, be it mapping, social, whatever, is connected TO service provision.  2:   If I create the ultimate transport aid, to rival City-Mapper et al?   It is yes, prima facie, a kind of 'product'. At the same time, however, I am thereby commenting on, interacting with and growing from a SERVICE. As in, the service of transport or whichever sector my app targets?  3:  Flip that logic for...

ATTACK OF THE DRONES! To quote the baddie in IRON MAN 2: 'Drone Better'. Was he right, or very wrong?  There is no question that it makes sense to try moving toward drone dominance, for a number of reasons: 1: Saving Money?  Drones are probably, prima facie, a less 'taxing' investment that training a person / army of said and still having to provide hardware to match.  2: Preventing lost lives? Seriously. It seems logical to presume to some extent, that robotics in the air = 'safer' than human counterparts. Why risk the lives of pilots in a cockpit, when it is both plausible and efficient, to avoid that needless deployment?  3: Stealth. Presumably, if one wishes to win wars, surprise remains key, right? As in a weapon in war itself. And, by removing or at least, reducing, significantly, any human element in the fight, one  thereby also minimises risk of blowback / leaked intel and so on? Silent -ish drones. Programmed. Honed. Dropped in. With the sole threat ...

 Answer: It's however YOU choose to do so! In previous episodes, we established that there is a way to at once embrace the universal premises of sustainability and apply those to one's own facts/circumstances/conclusions. And so it is, here, with the measurement stage.  There are, of course, well known and accepted criteria to accept and respect.  SOCIAL! ENVIRONMENTAL! ECONOMIC! The question is not what the terms of assessment 'are' but HOW those can be at once empirical / objective AND somehow related to an ethical value judgement and brand identity in a changing world.  I will not try and offer any calculable formulae via a superficial blog. But what I CAN say is that a balance of personal and societal utilities is not only possible but entirely logical and indeed, necessary, in the definition and consolidation of personal/professional progress.  Think about the word, 'sustainable'. Even in colloquial and casual terms, it tends to refer to relationships and s...