Media Evolution

”We don’t have an energy problem, we have a matter problem.”

Matt Jones (he/him) has been designing digital products and services since 1995. Most recently he was Head of Design at Lunar Energy, a company building the world’s best clean energy products to deliver home electrification at scale. From 2013-2021 he worked at Google as a Principal Designer, primarily in Google Research working on advanced AI concepts for hardware and software. Now he is focusing on helping the solar energy sector harness more of the power already available to us.

Have you heard of Nikolai Kardashev? Matt introduces the Kardashev Scale, measuring a civilisation’s technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is capable of harnessing. From the planetary to the stellar, even to the galactic scale – this might sound like the stuff of Star Trek, but it’s quite simple. Matt believes that with the existing wind, water and solar power available to us (plus storage capabilities) we can reach Type 1 living on the Kardashev scale – we’re currently only at 0.7.

By working with the 3Ds of energy: decarbonisation, digitisation and decentralisation – products like the solar batteries produced by Lunar can help us get all the electricity we need, while still leaving fossil fuels behind.

The Q&A from the session Planting the Seeds with Jemma Foster and John De La Parra

“As we eat food we are consuming things that we don’t even know what’s in there, because they are unknown and we don’t even know where to look for them.”

What really makes up the food we eat? Dr. John De La Parra (he/him) invites us to decode the magic and mystery of our food, challenging the conventional ways we understand its composition and impact. He argues there is a deep knowledge often overlooked when we rely solely on the scientific data provided by traditional nutrition labels and composition databases. 

The reality is that our food contains thousands of complex chemical compounds, each with different properties and effects on our bodies. Plants, he explains, are constantly producing unique compounds as a defense mechanism, many of which have surprising benefits for human health. These secondary metabolites add layers of mystery and magic to what we consume daily.

By understanding the complex chemistry of our foods and the effects of agricultural practices, we can create a more just and informed global food system that benefits both health and the environment.

”What future will we dream when we dream with plants?”

Jemma (she/her) is an artist, writer and curator working with plant intelligence and vibrational medicine. If you wonder what plants sound like – check out this talk. After a guided visualisation, where we imagine going back to a state of being before our human form – we see ourselves as plants. But what is your texture, your aroma – as a plant?

Jemma believes we can design futures beyond our perceived limitations if we engage with more-than-human life. Plants make up 87% of life on our planet, so why shouldn’t we listen to them? There is proof that plants have agency, not only intelligence – they are active. By not listening to them we risk abusing them, which will ultimately lead to us abusing ourselves. 

Jemma encourages you to ask yourself what you're not hearing or seeing. There is so much to learn when we don’t even fully comprehend our own consciousness as humans. When we start to include all forms of life, we begin to see that we have been guilty of ”brain chauvinism” for much too long. It's time to change. 

“We are the time travelers we’ve been waiting for”.

Gustavo Nogueira de Menezes – Gust for short – founder of Temporality Lab, takes us on a whirling tour of wisdom on the philosophy of time and temporality. Or should we say, temporalities. For every society has had distinct experiences of being, doing and existing in their relationship with time. Take the very calendars we use – 12 months of varying lengths for some, and lunar cycles for others.

“I don’t have time!” We’ve all heard – or said – the refrain. In response, Gust asks, “How can we think of the future if we are so exhausted consuming the present?” 

Gust, who received appropriately timely birthday wishes from the crowd at The Conference, explains the concept of time was colonised and we were taught to evolve in a single narrative. A decolonial approach is possible in which we embrace the pluriversal nature of the concept, by recognising the ancestral and contemporary as equally important and intertwined. Instead of erasing what has been done before, our origins can teach us how to innovate and be ‘ancestors of the future’.

What connects Leonardo DiCaprio with the Grateful Dead, a 16th century Dutch diplomat, and a tech CEO recently arrested in a French airport. To answer we have to zoom out and look back. Ten years after three days ago, the last decade of the old millennium, revolutionary 1789, and further back still. Where did we come from and where are we going?

Dan Shefet is a lawyer, specialising in European law and Human Rights as they apply to tech. Dan highlights the critical junctures where domestic law and fundamental rights intersect, points of conflicts catalysed by the explosive growth of tech and the international high seas of cyberspace. 

Are social media sites responsible for the content they host? At which point does the right to be forgotten contravene the right to free speech? And what about Leo? Spanning centuries, Dan’s talk demonstrates the necessity of understanding our past in order to answer the questions that shape our future.

The Q&A session from Shifting Systems with Dan Shefet and Dr. Katlyn Turner

Katlyn’s talk digs deep into a critical question: "How did we get here?" She challenges us to confront a deeply embedded paradigm—the "Twin Transition" of sustainability and digitalization.

She covers three aspects. First, she critiques how we define environmental impact as caused by CO2, ignoring the other serious issues this oversimplified focus creates. It’s a convenient narrative that silences dissenting voices, labeling them "anti-climate."

Then she asks, "Who really benefits?" and exposes the power dynamics at play—who’s included, who’s excluded, and who’s left with the waste. And finally she ask, “If we shifted this system to its idealized end state - full “green” and digital transition - what is its vision? 

She leaves us with a haunting thought: Even if we achieve a full "green" digital utopia, who decides what's acceptable? Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, and maybe we need to sit with that discomfort, face the complexity, and—most importantly—be honest.

“Underneath the experience of loneliness is always a longing”. 

It is not part of our human nature to isolate ourselves from others – yet this is increasingly the reality of modern-day societies. Our physical environments (such as car-centric cities and single-person homes), our technologies (such as social media), and our attitude towards work (i.e. careerism and the false promise of busyness) are no longer affording us the same opportunities to connect as before.

Monika Jiang warns us that “connection must not be consumed” and urges us to slow down to realise what it is that we need and long for – and to be able to give our undivided attention to the people around us. Through examples such as the Offline Club in the Netherlands and the Human Library in Denmark, we can perhaps start to shape new (and old) communities. Because when we return to ourselves, we can also return to the world – and the understanding that we are not separate from nature but rather a part of it.

“Trust is an outcome – not something you can design for.”

For many years designers and users alike have been pushing for “seamless” technologies and services – but this approach has not always prioritised safety, privacy, and TRUST. We’ve been obsessed with making things easy to use, rather than making things that are transparent, accountable, and trustworthy.

This dilemma is at the core of Projects by IF and Valeria Adani’s work. According to Adani, every time you invent a new technology, you’re also designing a new set of risks and potential harms, whether you intend to or not, and this correlates with potentially diminishing trust on the part of organisations.

By promoting a human-centred perspective in data, Valeria and her colleagues showcase the importance of trust in technology. At the dawn of the rise of AI, the first technological innovation coming from commercial rather than public institutions, the role of trust will have an increasingly stronger impact in determining the success of a company.