I’ve been writing this blog since 2010. In that very first post, I quoted figures estimating the content of the Internet had reached 487 billion…
It’s time to reduce our working week, and we can achieve it by better directing our technology to benefit society. Pioneering economist, John Maynard Keynes,…
George Orwell wrote about the “proles” in 1984 being kept placated and distracted by automated writing machines which churned out mediocre novels. It’s possible that…
This month I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech to open the Earth Digital Twin Workshop organised by JAXA (Japan’s national space agency)…
There is no doubt that 2023 has been the year that AI, through Generative AI, has truly captured public imagination. As we wrap-up the year,…
Readers of this blog who are under 30 may not even know what a cassette tape is! But when they appeared in the 1970s, they…
Last month I talked about what artificial intelligence needed to be useful. I also talked about AI being smart, but I should also have qualified…
Dolphins and whales are smart, maybe even smarter than us. But without opposable thumbs, they can’t express their intelligence in technology or in ways that…
The great attraction of fossil fuels is their huge energy density. Burning a kilogram of oil can produce 40 to 50 megajoules of energy to propel…
We love to hear from smart pigs! We empathise with Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web as he risks being turned into bacon and we understand the worst…