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Cultural Themes from Apple’s App of the Year Award Finalists

Cultural Themes from Apple's App of the Year Finalists

Apple announced all the finalists for their App of the Year awards and the majority are the sorts of apps you would expect. Image manipulation tools and productivity apps to help you create better images, videos, or content. Buried within the awards announcement, though, is a category that stood out: apps that deliver “Cultural Impact.” The eight … Read more

Flushless Toilets, Plastic Reuse, and More Ideas From the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale

Flushless Toilets and more ideas from 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale

Imagine a toilet that never needs to be flushed. Arid desert land converted into abundant living spaces. Plastic yellow gallon oil containers upcycled into chairs and houses. These are just a few of the dozens of ideas from across the world that are on display right now at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 Show which will be open … Read more

How the Liquid Tree Might Be a Game-Changer for Urban Air Pollution

Liquid tree

“We are not trying to replace trees. We are trying to replace benches.” That’s the clever pitch of a project imagined and created by Serbian scientist Dr. Ivan Spasojevic who invented an urban photo-bioreactor called a “Liquid Tree” which uses a combination of water and microalgae to produce pure oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. As Dr. … Read more

Is AI Creating More Monoculturalism?

Is AI Creating More Monoculturalism

The opposite of multiculturalism is monoculturalism – a society in which there is only one acceptable religion, mindset or system of behavior. Academic researchers around the world have warned against the dangers of monoculturalism for years, from the “thick” national identity of Bulgarians to political shifts in Malaysia. In the world of agriculture, monoculture (also … Read more

The Dark Side of “Sharenting” (And Why You Should Avoid Posting About Your Kids On Social Media)

European telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom launched a campaign using deepfakes to scare parents into being more careful about what they share online. The effort is meant to illustrate the dangers of “sharenting” (parents oversharing photos of their kids online). The video showcased is a disturbing imagined future where kids are suffering from identity theft, exploitation and … Read more

Will Humans Inevitably Turn Faith in AI Into a Religion?

Imagine a future where AI was all-knowing and all-understanding. These are abilities humans have typically ascribed to Gods worthy of worship. Soon, they may also be among the feature set of artificial intelligence. An article in The Walrus takes this possible future to it’s extreme – asking whether there may come a time when AI itself is worshipped … Read more

25 Non-Obvious Things I Learned About Diversity, Inclusion and Equity

It took me three weeks to write this article. Sometimes you just need a little more time listening before speaking. What I was listening to (and watching), were the 54 conversations we hosted last month as part of our Non-Obvious Beyond Diversity Summit – an event that Chhavi Arya Bhargava and I created (in collaboration with SRC Partners … Read more

Problemshifting and the Myth of Food Shortages

Every few months, there are stories about an impending food crisis. From the death of the humble banana, to the loss of fertile farming land to doomsday stories of outbreaks at food production plants, there are plenty of things to be afraid of. Yet the truth, proven by facts and data, is that the world is growing more than enough food … Read more

Netflix’s Controversial New Show On Indian Arranged Marriages

A new Netflix eight-part mini-series called Indian Matchmaking has been sparking a big debate online because of how it shines a spotlight on what one observer called “Brahmanical patriarchy … shaped by gender, caste, and economic relationships.” The show tells the story of arranged marriages from the perspective of a famous matchmaker who uses “biodata” to connect people. … Read more

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