A recent local debate was dedicated to the future of education. English sociologist Frank Furedi argued for a return to conventional and traditional values like the authoritative teacher, knowledge as truth and the challanges of intellectualism. On the other side of the spectrum education futurist John Moravec arguedd that knowledge is becoming widely available through new technology and that education will become more about being able to process that knowledge into creative and innovative ideas. What’s your opinion?

In our future studie “Future of Network” we discuss the upcoming network society, a paradigmatic change that moves from atomic scientific universal thinking to fragmented contextual contingent thinking, or as Alan Moore calls it: from straight line thinking to no straight line thinking. Some artists are visionaries, ahead of time, and give us an insight in the future. Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) was such an artist. His life and work are the embodiement of the paradigmental change we are wittnessing today and the exhibition in the Kunsthal, the first Giacometti exhibition in twenty years in the Netherlands, can be considered in my opinion a sign of the new thinking emerging. Do you see other signs around you in the public sphere?

Although it has been a bit quiet here on FreedomLab.org we have been really busy at the lab. In the last weeks we have done many new interviews and have started several new projects. The FreedomLab network is still growing everyday and we are working round the clock to make the absolute best of so much bundled knowledge, insight and creativity. Development is delivering great achievements and they are working towards a final version of our platform, which will be a high class infrastructure for the FreedomLab network. In the lab we see new things emerging and converging everyday and we look forward to share our insights with you again soon here on FreedomLab.org. And of course…we look forward to your discussions!

“The sphere, as we view it nowadays, is the existential space. It is the space that cannot be discussed by physicists, that mathematicians or geometrists cannot discuss. But the same applies to architects, civil servants or people that work for the land registry. Because they all work with images that describe a non-personal, abstract, geometric, mathematical space.Space that doesn’t know ‘I’. When I or an I enters such a space, space transforms itself into a sphere.”

Peter Sloterdijk, Professor of Philosophy and Media Theory at the Karlsruhe School of Design

The impact of the current crisis is becoming well visible in society. After a stream of banks and financial organisations getting into troubled water, other sectors are now affected as well. A general believe is that when this crisis is over, it will leave open a space for innovations, a space on which the new future will be build. The technology sector in the Netherlands for example is at the moment forced to let go of personnel, but last in line to be sacked are the researchers and developers. This way companies try to ensure knowledge capital to be preserved, which will form the breading ground for future development. But how do you determine what will be the valuable aspects in your sector in the upcoming future? What, for instance, will be the unique and determining element in the success of a media company in the future?

Recycling is maybe on of the most conventional sustainability strategies. We recycle our paper, glass and clothing, but what about our knowledge? On a ‘view FRWD’ meeting I recently met someone who is working in recycling market research. The idea is that there is a lot of information in market research that is not specifically relevant for the primary subject of the research, but might be very valuable when put in a new context. Evaluating and reinterpreting ‘old’ research is expected to lead to new ideas and products, a relatively cheap and effective strategy. Which makes me wonder, how much valuable information or other ’side products’ are there to be found in the cellars of businesses. I guess living in a knowledge economy makes this waste what manure is for farmers, so how are we going to recycle all that knowledge?

Last week I had the first ‘View FRWD’ event, with about 10 other young professionals working in different fields of interest (curator, design, social networks, artificial intelligence, radio, marketing, professional trainings). One of the main subjects during the night was communities. Recognizable as a sign of the time in which we are living everybody was somehow involved with a community related project. Maybe even a better indication of this time are the troubles that seem to occur with communities. Companies, institutions, the government, all are eager to implement a community, but almost everywhere projects are bound to fail. The two main problems were formulated tonight as aim and design.

When will we see real robots? 5 or 10 years from now? Even longer? Guess what, robots serve your food, ride you home, print your letters and open your doors everyday. For many the word robot is attached to the sci-fi metaphor. They need to see tin plate men walking the streets and talking in beeps and pings, before they recognize a robot, not noticing that they are in fact surrounded by robots in their daily lives. The same sort of metaphor is part of some peoples conception of artificial intelligence (AI). Their expectation is to see an autonomous machine, computer or robot, which blinds them for the AI that is actually already around them, within the robots the others could not see. Let us, then, sketch an alternative perspective that exposes a different conception of robots and AI.