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Map #32: Homo Hubris? (Part 1 of 2)
On the heels of my recent foray into A.I., I’ve been reading a bunch of recent books on our coming technological utopia: Yuval Harari’s Homo Deus, Peter Diamandis’s Abundance, Steven

Map #31: A.I. — Humanity’s Lab Rat Or Robot Overlord?
’I have always believed that any scientific concept can be demonstrated to people with no specialist knowledge or scientific education.’ Richard Feynman, Nobel physicist (1918-1988) I feel like the whole field

Map #30: Violence, Conformity and a Toronto Van Attack
I was going to write about something completely different this week. Then I saw the news headline that a van had plowed through a mile of sidewalk in Toronto, killing

Map #29: False Choices (‘Should Science Or Values Take Priority?’)
I Hate False Choices As many of you know, I’m actively exploring routes to re-engage with my Canadian…er…roots. One of those routes is a policy fellowship program. I recently went

Map #28: A Higher Loyalty?
I was in Washington, D.C. this past week—the talk-shop capital of the world. I attended a conference on the future of war and spoke at a conference on the future

Map #27: Fixing Fake News
I wonder, do you ever share my feeling that ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth’—these phrases that get thrown about every day by the commentariat—cloud our understanding rather than clarify it? To

Map #26: Finding The Real In A Post-Truth World
I’m guessing we all know the sensation of being detached, somehow, from the whole: when we catch ourselves in the act of reaching impulsively for our mobile phone…

Map #25: Has China Got It All Figured Out?
The Dictator Who Dethroned Democracy? These days, the commentariat is talking a lot about China and what China’s rising confidence means for the world—and for the democratic world in particular.

Map #24: Voyages Into The Unknown—And The Familiar
Donald Trump can become President of the United States. Boris Johnson can become Foreign Secretary of Britain. Silvio Berlusconi, whose bongo bongo parties once secured his status as the most

Map #23: Here Come The Avatars
Just a short letter this week. I’m doing a bunch of interviews and podcasts in the U.S. at the moment, to coincide with the U.S. paperback release of Age of

Map #22: Catching Up With A.I.
The techno-optimists are driving AI forward. And we, as citizens, are bombarded by the promises and portents of its consequences. AI will destroy our jobs. AI will eliminate drudgery and

Map #21: Hard Choices Or False Choices In Digital Paradise
Every week, we’re greeted with a new story about a cyber hack or attack. The 2018 Winter Olympic Games website was hacked during the opening ceremony last Friday night. Last
A CLEAR SIGNAL THROUGH THE NOISE
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