Robert Hickson • Jul 15, 2017 •
A few weeks ago I gave a conference talk about using stories to look at the future. I focused on the need to pay more attention to creating stronger story lines and characters. That’s because it is more important to stimulate the audience to explore a range of possible futures than to try and predict what you think may happen. Read More
Robert Hickson • Apr 17, 2017 •
The oldest person in the world has died, aged 117. Life expectancy in Italy in 1899 when she was born was 44 years. She wasn’t the oldest; the current record is 122. NZ’s oldest living person is 109, although the oldest so far reached 113 years. Life expectancy in New Zealand has, as elsewhere, risen … Read More
Guest Work • Mar 28, 2017 •
From the NZ March for Science Organisers Since the Science March on DC was first announced in January, after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the President of the USA, scientists and people who care about science in New Zealand have been working together behind the scenes to make sure that when we march for science and knowledge, and … Read More
Eric Crampton • Jan 27, 2017 •
A new year brings a new New Zealand media and Twitter zeitgeist, thanks to the revelation that US tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel is a New Zealand citizen. Tired: Low-skilled immigrants from China and the Pacific are ruining our economy. They’re hurting New Zealand’s productivity stats, they’re making New Zealand a low-wage economy, and they’re stealing all the houses. We need … Read More
Robert Hickson • Aug 31, 2016 •
Letting technology take more care of us will give us better lives. That’s the thesis of “technological socialism” proposed by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis. Despite Bernie Sanders, it is still interesting to see the term “socialism” used with a positive intent in the US. There are two main questions here: are technologies and their applications making things … Read More
Robert Hickson • Jun 26, 2016 •
In my previous post I noted that the last 90 years saw a tremendous amount of change. Are the next 90 going to be as, or more, turbulent? Or as “golden”? Given that no one in 1926 could predict what the world in 2016 would be like, what’s the point now of looking ahead? One reason is … Read More
Robert Hickson • Jun 06, 2016 •
Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith is officially 90. Happy Birthday Ma’am. What are some of the most significant changes that have happened during her life, and what could we expect over the next 90 years? 1926 to 2016 … Read More
Robert Hickson • Apr 09, 2016 •
Wired magazine has always been somewhat of a tech fetish publication. Recently they’ve highlighted fetish tech. Silicone valley comes to “adult” toys. [I’m not revealing anything explicit here]. It’s not the sad and seedy that you may expect. These are items designed to be flaunted, or at least not to be seen as embarrassing items hidden away in a … Read More
Peter Griffin • Jan 20, 2016 •
This is the first of a series of posts looking at Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, which I visited on a Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City cycle trip in September 2015. “Sabai, sabai,” said my Thai cycling guide on more occasions than I could count, as he accompanied me and a dozen other bikers on our way through Thailand, Cambodia … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 06, 2015 •
Gill Pratt, who until recently ran some of DARPA’s robotics programs, has posited in the Journal of Economic Perspectives that the field of robotics may perhaps in the near future go through the technological equivalent of the “Cambrian explosion”, resulting in a myriad of wondrous mechanical forms. Source: ChopShopStore http://chopshopstore.com/index.php/werobotnew.html [Of course, the Cambrian “explosion” … Read More