“Connectivity on an unimaginable scale is coming and the vast majority of humankind will be net beneficiaries of it. But their experience of it will not be uniform. A “digital caste system” will endure well into the future, and the extent to which people will benefit from the technology will be critically dependent on their positions in that system: poor people will be the biggest beneficiaries simply because of where they live, but they will also face the worst drawbacks of the digital age.”
Category: ideas
Text And Text-Search Once Ruled The Web. Now Pictures Do
“That text-driven model of e-commerce is slowly but surely beginning to change, giving way to a more visual form of shopping, in which people peruse high-resolution pictures of products favored by friends and online colleagues and click through to buy the item that sounds – and looks – the coolest.”
If We Tell Artists And Writers To STFU, Who Will Guide Our Moral Compass?
“This new idea — that writers, scholars and artists who stand against orthodoxy or bigotry are to blame for upsetting people — is spreading fast.”
How Chicago Shaped (And Still Shapes) The U.S.
“There is this discussion of Chicago and black Chicago. And in … all that I’ve read, in interviews, there’s often this discussion of two different cities. And I think when Chicago finally wraps its hands around all of itself and doesn’t speak of it in these two different terms, I think they’re going to be a lot closer to solving some of these problems.”
How Does It Feel To Write A Plagiarist’s Source Material?
“With every draft I read aloud, I tasted the words in my mouth. Salty, sweet, fatty, lean, velvet, metallic, mean. Mine. What does it feel like, tasting words you’ve stolen? Like sand, I suspect.”
How Our Understanding Of Data Will Change How We Think
“The Internet has reshaped how humanity communicates. Big data is different: it marks a transformation in how society processes information. In time, big data might change our way of thinking about the world. As we tap ever more data to understand events and make decisions, we are likely to discover that many aspects of life are probabilistic, rather than certain.”
Survival Of The Shyest: Timidity Has Its Benefits
“In the natural world fortune doesn’t always favour the bold. … Does shyness have survival value for us too? Some researchers think so and are starting to find that people who are shy, sensitive and even anxious have some surprising advantages over more go-getting types.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber Has A Way To Get Musical Instruments To Every Child. So Why Aren’t Politicians Listening?
“It is extraordinary what they have achieved here,” said Lloyd Webber of a scheme that is not necessarily attempting to create battalions of great musicians, but is more about using music to boost academic ability.
The World According To Google (An Increasingly Powerful Role)
“As Google evolves its role on the world stage, the fundamental question might be less about whether states might regulate Google, but whether states can compete against such a powerful, global technology platform.”
Google Founder Talks About The Power Of The Internet As An Idea
“Countries that have the Internet already are not going to turn it off. And so the power of freedom, the power of ideas will spread, and it will change those societies in very dramatic ways.”