Original Content
Last week, Douglas Williams had some thoughts about Solidarity, the AFL-CIO and Ferguson.
Geeking Out
“The greatest challenge for humanity will be to decouple income and work.” Cosmos Mag takes a look at our robot future.
“Coming from the technology world, we were confounded when technology failed us.” What happens when some Fellows are assigned to build an app for low-income Americans?
What’s Going on in the Workforce?
If you don’t believe robots will be able to do emotional labor someday, you probably haven’t seen this Furby-like video. I do have a hard time envisioning a food-delivery quad copter with facial expressions, myself.
How do you make yourself irreplaceable, in the face of automation? Get creative. Or start asking—why is work necessary at all (okay, that last point is mine.)
If you know me, you’ll know that I read practically every word that Jaron Lanier writes. Here he is, talking about AI—and how it can’t evolve to something better than human, because it REQUIRES humans to populate the big data sets it needs to function. But mythology leads us to believe that things might be possible that aren’t possible. Watch & learn, or read & learn.
Organizing Theory
Great piece about how Hollaback uses online engagement to foster offline organizing to prevent street harassment.
“New power values participation and is all about do-it-yourself.” Jeremy Heimans on what new power means for organizations.
Reputation, reputation, reputation
At what point will my cyborg have a higher Klout score than I do?
Are you a Flickr user? Might be time to check your license. At what point do you stop owning “your” photos?
Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability
If we want more walkable communities—are we enacting public policies that encourage them at the point of development?
Shareable lists 8 great things that coops do to strengthen communities. And while we’re on the subject of co-ops—the Small Business Administration just funded a support group for them in Seattle that hopes to incubate more.
Final Thoughts
“The way some pessimists put it is that all the low-hanging fruit has been picked. I would argue that there never was any low-hanging fruit; it was always of intermediate height and the question was, were people reaching for it? I’m frustrated because I think technology is progressing slowly, but I’m optimistic because I think it could be better.”
Peter Thiel, MIT Tech Review Vol. 117, No. 6