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+--- Thread: State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky (/showthread.php?tid=1784)
State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky - zqwerty - 06-01-2023
Once more it's that time of the year and this interesting discussion will be updated as is done every year at this time.
It's possible to go back through the years and see what was expected then for the future.
It's a substantial read to go through all the years so probably better just to concentrate on this year.
Bruce Sterling is the man to watch: "Years ago <bruces> said something to the effect of "it's not global
warming, it's global weirding"" [BTW, roots of "weird" mean "to control fate"]
Also from Bruce:
"I'd like to list some of the tech phenomena I spent a lot of time
with last decade, that this decade doesn't seem to respect much, or
to care much about. Tech oligarchs still like to handwave about
them, but they're met with sullen public resistance.
Metaverses -- Facebook Horizon Worlds, virtual reality, augmented
reality
There doesn't seem to be a compelling use-case for any of these.
People mock Zuckerberg's efforts here for a lot of different
reasons, but I don't think Meta's Metaverse it would be a success in
modern cultural circumstances even if it was technically brilliant
and a sensual delight to strap on your head.
Web3, NFTs
It seems pretty clear now that this impressive craze was not so much
"blockchain art" as "lockdown art." It's what art people do
culturally when they're not allowed out of the house. One of the
most entertaining cultural freakouts I ever personally witnessed,
but it was convulsive and in many ways quite sad."
Here's another interesting quote from someone repling:
"One tech that was only mildly splashy but succeeded big has been
"collaborative filtering" which is what they called it at the MIT
Media Lab, where it was invented. "If you like this, and others who
like it also like these other things, then odds are that you too
will like them." I was there when it was demonstrated to Jeff Bezos
who saw right away its potential. It's been bedrock to how Amazon
functions for decades now. It will likely never go away."
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/522/State-of-the-World-2023-Bruce-St-page01.html
RE: State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky - R2x1 - 06-01-2023
I can't remember all the details, but I believe that in this country the decline started more or less synonymously with ceasing to eat missionaries.
RE: State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky - piroska - 08-01-2023
(06-01-2023, 03:53 PM)R2x1 Wrote: I can't remember all the details, but I believe that in this country the decline started more or less synonymously with ceasing to eat missionaries.
LOL! Agree with that
RE: State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky - R2x1 - 09-01-2023
Also, this year is already suffering with an oversupply of Mondays, plus the seasonal disaster of facing 6 months of Monday being the longest day of the week. However we've got the consolation of knowing that the Longest Monday of the year is behind us. (I'm surprised that no political party has yet claimed the credit for that. Maybe https://tmmb.co.nz/forums should preemptively announce it as a subscriber benefit. RING NOW!)
If you're unconvinced about the timing of all that, try this which reached me about the same time this post actually left me. If the time and position matched so exactly, did I really send the post,and has it relatively left?
RE: State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky - zqwerty - 09-01-2023
Interesting reading from links in the State of the World 2023 Conference:
Web3, the Metaverse, and the Lack of Useful Innovation
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2022/11/web3-the-metaverse-and-the-lack-of-useful-innovation/
‘Disruptive’ science has declined — and no one knows why
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04577-5
Here are some more links:
inkwell.vue.522 : State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky
permalink #156 of 156: @jonl@mastodon.wellperns.com (jonl) Sun 8 Jan 23 16:18
I asked Vinay Gupta what might be a good approach, and he suggested
Lester Brown's Plan B: http://www.earth-policy.org/books/pb4
He links this Vox article:
https://www.vox.com/22291568/climate-change-carbon-footprint-greta-thunberg-un
-emissions-gap-report They consider this question: "Since we are all created equal, what would equal carbon rights look like?"
What follows is a really good overview, starting with the fact that,
in order to restrict emissions to their "fair share," the top 1%
would have to cut their emissions by 97%, and the top 10% by 91%.
Most in the USA fall within that range.
"Once we face the numbers squarely, it's clear that deep individual
and systemic changes are needed, including to our view of our right
to the 'pursuit of happiness' and the duties they require of us. Are
we content to merely enjoy these rights as gifts, or will we do the
work necessary to ensure that sustainable versions of those rights
can be enjoyed by our descendants? These cherished rights that our
ancestors sacrificed much for must also be adapted to fit within the
biosphere's limits."
RE: State of the World 2023: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky - zqwerty - 15-01-2023
Coming to the end of the Conference now so here is a link to the last page which is partially a summing up and comments for the future:
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/522/State-of-the-World-2023-Bruce-St-page10.html