FOR the last few years all we have heard about is how many jobs are going to disappear as the robots take over. Oxford, Ernst & Young, McKinsey, the World Bank and the rest are all telling us that any repetitive job is vulnerable and about 30% of actual jobs across 60% of fields are […]
Let’s Use Tech To Prioritise HEALTH – Not Treatment
In the old days, there were two types of medical care: the fast way and the slow way. The fast kind of medical care was based around skills developed on the battlefield and was the province of the barber-surgeons, who were people good with knives, and good at minimising pain by making interventions… very, very […]
Why ‘Mr Robot’ Is Already Knocking At Your Door
When the movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ first came out in April 1968, the date in the title was one generation into the future but most of the technical elements would have seemed very plausible to anyone buying a cinema ticket. Sitting at home watching their own TV, Mr and Mrs Jones followed the Apollo […]
Migration By The Trillion Is Bugging Me
WHATEVER you feel about Brexit, one thing is certain: concerns about migration were a big factor in the debate; and migration will surely remain a key preoccupation for the UK and other countries. Much of our collective anxiety around the movement of people is grounded in our fears about how ‘The Great Acceleration’ (that immense […]
Our Genes Define Us… Or Do They?
Our genes are who we are, or so we have thought, yet recent advances in gene editing technology could allow us to change ourselves, and our children, in ways that have never before been possible. The Latin expression homo faber or ‘Man-the-Maker’ holds the idea that humans influence their fate and the environment through the […]
Alice still has her part in robot Wonderland, for now…
IMAGINE the scene of a car crash sometime in the future: two shiny saloons have bumped in the city street and, although both vehicles are dented and stationary, the occupants – including one family and one person on their own – are moving around inside, unbuckling themselves, checking. Everyone is a bit shocked. No-one is […]