Positive thinking

Jamie Morgan, Leeds Beckett University Cast your mind back a decade or so and consider how the future looked then. A public horizon of Obama-imbued “yes we can” and a high tide of hope and tolerance expressed in the London Olympics provides one narrative theme; underlying austerity-induced pressure another. Neither speaks directly to our current world of divisive partisan politics, toxic social media use, competing facts and readily believed fictions. This should be instructive. The future is made, not discovered, and yet we are constantly confounded by the future as it becomes the present. What we believe, say, do, organise and vote for matter, but the world they matter to constantly eludes our grasp. We often stumble into futures we would rather avoid. Our ecological and climatological future represents one such horizon and whether and how we will work , another. Organisations are also constantly trying to own the future by mapping out what it will mean for us. The “ f...

Giuseppe Loporchio Today's technology seems to have revolutionized the way we do things. Many believe that it has improved our lives. If we think of the progress in the studies of artificial intelligence, we can see that huge steps forward have been made. In our modern days, everything or almost everything is done using the Internet. We buy train, airplane or music concert tickets, holidays, food, clothing, electronics, etc. We do everything over the Internet, and in most cases, there is no need for sophisticated knowledge.  What are the implications of this technological progress? The events related to Cambridge Analytica, the British analytics data firm which is believed to have been using tools capable of gathering information of unsuspecting users to influence their minds, are a revelation. Technology can be used to our advantage. But what are the limitations of these benefits? The limits begin where the knowledge of these technologies can change nations electoral trend...