Public Talks in Sydney
It is nearly time for Vivid Sydney, and I thought in light of that I’d share some of my thoughts on the current state of public talks and events in the city. For a long time there has been an underground…
Category Ideas
How Technology Can Divide Us Up: Connection in the Digital Age
There is a common argument in favour of technology: If we are divided, surely technology can help solve the problem? Surely technology can bridge the gaps between different groups in society and connect us? Connection need not be face-to-face if…
A History of Law Schools: A Battle Between Law as a Science and Law as a Liberal Art
The history of law schools is a battle of ideas. Ideas over what the law is, how it should
be taught and the kinds of student a law school should produce. Frequently,
law schools have been the battleground of fierce intellectual rivalries, with
rival schools of thought battling for supremacy.
What Will The Jobs of the Future Look Like?
My book Essays in AI looks at the future of traditional work and the upheaval about to hit the economy from AI, automation and new technologies. Having already seen a rapidly changing workforce in the early 2000s, the future looks confusing…
We Should Have a 15 Hour Working Week (Says an Economist from 1930)
By 2030, Keynes wrote, we should all be working 15 hours a week at full time wages (not pro rata). The question why haven’t we got there yet? I answered in a previous post, which you can read by clicking the…
What happened to the 15-hour workweek? Productivity gains went to the top 1%.
In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technological change and productivity improvements would eventually lead to a 15-hour workweek. But, despite significant productivity gainsover the past few decades, we still work 40 hours a week on average. Keynes’s reasoning was that by producing more…
5 Faults of Modern Universities
Some thoughts on this late at night: 1. The Referencing System: Arguably the most pernicious aspect of modern universities is the referencing system. A system that was not used in any of the major humanities books that are still widely…
The business of addiction: how the video gaming industry is evolving to be like the gambling industry
The video gaming industry has transitioned from a group of backyard innovators to an industry of multi-billion dollar companies, hiring psychologists, neuroscientists and marketing experts to turn customers into addicts. The latest trend is the creation of “whales,” people so addicted to games that…
Paperback Launch: Essays in AI: Automation, Tech and the Future of Work
My book Essays in AI has just released in paperback!
Robots, artificial intelligence and automation are going to fundamentally change the way we work, play and live in the 21st Century.
Kindle Launch: Essays in AI: Technology, Automation and the Future of 9-5 Work
Essays in AI looks at how new technology, automation and artificial intelligence might change our lives for the worse. It's a compilation book of various essays and articles I've written on the topic over the years. Although it's quite short, each essay packs a punch!