Modern Monetary Theory and its challenge to Neoliberalism

After more than four decades of dominance, free-market capitalism is facing a challenge. It’s rival, the rather blandly named Modern Monetary Theory, promises to return economic planning to a less ideological footing. It’s also keen to strike a blow against the “surplus fetish” that many economists now blame for declining public services and growing inequality.

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Digital Technology and the lonely

Digital technology is a new tool to mitigate loneliness amount older people. And find out about the risk associated with data "re-identification".

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Depression, anxiety and social media

What is the relationship between depression and digital technology?

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Artificial intelligence, ethics and education

AI holds enormous potential for transforming the way we teach, but first we need to define what kind of education system we want. Also, the head of the UK’s new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation warns democratic governments that they urgently need an ethics and governance framework for emerging technologies.

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Controlled Environmental Agriculture

Controlled Environmental Agriculture promises to be cleaner and greener. It’s focussed on technology and it’s essentially about bringing food production closer to the point of consumption. We examine the potential and the pitfalls.

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The Privacy Paradox

Future Tense a look at how we might be revealing more private details online than we think and the value in the information that’s being mined - and you’ll hear how you could protect your data by actually revealing more than you already are.

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Planning for a problematic future

We all know the value of planning, but in a complex, complicated and often confounding world it can be difficult knowing how to start. Scenario Planning is planning tool for uncertain situations - find out what it entails and how it might benefit organisations and businesses.

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Great Green Walls – holding back the deserts

Desertification and land degradation affect the lives of around three billion people, according to UN estimates. Two ambitious projects aim at halting desertification and returning soil to productivity: the Great Green Wall project in northern Africa; and the Green Great Wall initiative in China.

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Offshore architecture and marine urban sprawl

There’s a new emphasis on land reclamation and building floating structures for everything from accommodation to marine farming to energy generation. Re-defining the use of the ocean is part of the emerging “blue economy” – one that can be both economically beneficial and environmentally responsible. How well can these often contradictory goals be reconciled?

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The Psychology of Silicon Valley

To understand new technology we need to comprehend the social, cultural and economic influences of the developers. Also, making direct comparisons between the human mind and Artificial Intelligence is counterproductive.

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3D printing and the “plateau of productivity”

When the hype around 3D printing was at its peak, it was confidently predicted that every household would soon have a personal printer. That’s not the way it turned out. But 3D printing is coming back and it’s slowly making its way toward the verdant “plateau of productivity”.

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The creeping militarisation of our police

Police officers in many  western countries now dress like paramilitaries. Special police units are being trained and organised along military lines and issued with military-grade weapons. Is this creeping “militarisation” justified and what are the future implications for the effectiveness of policing in democratic societies?

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Strengthening public interest journalism while defending media freedom

A tale of two media environments: in the US, journalistic freedom is increasingly under threat from demonising rhetoric and the violent personal targeting of reporters; while in Ethiopia, the country’s new leader has opened the gate to press freedom. What can we learn from both experiences?

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Google’s future city; the space-wide web; and how the ancients strategized for the future

Get an update on Google’s controversial proposal to take over the construction and regulation of a section of Toronto; learn about how the ancient Athenians used Tragedy to guide their future decision-making and follow the rush to develop low-orbit satellites to secure the future of the Internet.  

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Future doom and the rose-coloured past

Why do we see the past through rose-coloured glasses, but not the future? Psychologists tell us that human beings have a tendency to be fearful and pessimistic about the future, while simultaneously romanticising the past. If the theory is true, it might help explain the difficulties we often have in making informed decisions and effectively planning for the future.

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With nature against climate change

Nature Based Solutions is an environmental approach that seeks to counter the negative effects of climate change by working with nature.

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Netflix's decline and why stricter regulation could strengthen the tech giants

Netflix dominates online TV streaming, but for how long? Also, Cory Doctorow on how more government regulation could inadvertently make the tech giants even stronger.

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Ensuring a classical future

The world of classical music is changing. Some are predicting the demise of orchestral events. Others see opportunity in social media and a new sense of engagement between the audience and musicians.

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Counterculture, consumerism and the far right

Countercultural movements, like Occupy Wall Street, are meant to be future-focussed - revolutionary even. So, why do they often fade into commercialism? Are they simply a function of consumer capitalism? If so, what future do they have? And must they always be progressive?

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Western spies face a difficult future

The CIA’s former counterintelligence chief warns Western spy agencies are being “overwhelmed” by their adversaries. And new surveillance technologies could spell the death of the traditional agent-in-the-field. The future of espionage looks problematic indeed.

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