New World Same Humans

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 13,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

This week, a news item got me thinking about an old question. Who is really in the driving seat of history: we humans, or our machines?

The essay that follows is my attempt at an answer that makes sense, and is useful, in 2020.

Given the scale of the question, a million and more viewpoints are possible. So if you find yourself – as you no doubt will – wanting to disagree, challenge, or add to my first thoughts, then come to the NWSH Slack group and join the debate. You can find details on how to sign up at the end of this email.

For now, though, find a quiet spot, lean back and absorb this essay, which is called Welcome to the Technocene.

If you prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #40.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. Researchers from Columbia University say CEOs and senior executives are changing the way they speak on quarterly earnings calls, in order to cater to the algorithms they know are listening.

2. In What Technology Wants, the iconic writer and technologist Kevin Kelly argues that technological evolution follows a pre-determined path.

Join the debate!

Thanks for listening this week.

We all know that technology is doing much to shape the world around us in 2020. But are you convinced that we now live in the Technocene? Or do you think AI is best understood as simply another tool? If you want to share views with a super-smart, curious and friendly group, look no further than the NWSH Slack!

***Simply follow this link to join the New World Same Humans Slack group***

And if you know others – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also find our group useful, just forward this email to them with a prompt to sign up to the newsletter. When they do, they’ll receive a welcome email with a link to the Slack. Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable. Just hit the share button!

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 13,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

What do we owe future generations? That’s the short, yet vastly complex, question at the heart of this week’s New World Same Humans.

An increasingly influential idea holds that for centuries, those of us in the Global North have been stealing – value, resources, and peace – from the future. And that now, it’s time to start giving it back.

Before we start, a reminder that this week saw the launch of the NWSH Slack community! A few days in, we’re already assembling an amazing group from all over the world. Find out more, and get a link to join, below

But first this essay, which is called Decolonizing the Future. Hit play!

If you prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #39.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. In September the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) opened for trading in US.

2. In Japan, the economist Professor Tatsuyoshi Saijo is the creator of a new policymaking movement called Future Design.

The future is now

Thanks for listening this week.

When it comes to New World Same Humans, this week the future finally arrived. I mean, of course, the arrival of the long-promised NWSH Slack Group!

A few days in, we’ve already assembled a fascinating, eclectic, and high-achieving group. They include successful founders, senior insight professionals, service designers, marketers, AI researchers, strategists and more. If you haven’t yet joined: come inside!

***Simply follow this link to join the New World Same Humans Slack group***

And if you know others – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also find our group useful, just forward this email to them with a prompt to sign up to the newsletter. When they do, they’ll receive a welcome email with a link to the Slack. Alternatively, you could New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable. Just hit the share button!

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 13,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

Back in the early days of the pandemic, we were obsessed with the question: pause or Great Reset?

It’s a somewhat exhausted phrase now. But it still forms the primary framework via which we seek to understand the longterm significance of the virus. This week, I propose a new way of looking at what has happened. One that I think can supersede the pause or reset question and replace it with a more constructive challenge.

Before we start, a reminder to watch out for a big announcement in this Wednesday’s New Week Same Humans!

Until then, find a quiet spot, lean back, and absorb this essay, which is called ‘The Overview Effect’.

If you’d prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #38.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. The annual Goalkeepers Report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, published in September.

2. The Overview Effect is a phenomenon reported by astronauts who have looked down on Earth from space.

Ground control to Major Tom

Thanks for listening this week.

If the space tourism industry has its way, then one day soon we may all be able to experience the original Overview Effect. Until then, New World Same Humans will continue its quest to see clearly the changing world of today and tomorrow.

The aim of this community is to help us all make sense of our shared future, so that we are better able to play the role we choose. There’s one thing you can do to help make this community more useful. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment engaging, why not take a second to forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also enjoy it? Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable. Just hit the share button!

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 12,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

Jeff Bezos wants you to buy a little camera drone that will fly around your house. He promises not to spy on the footage. Okay?

Amazon hosted an online event last week, in which it launched a remarkable new range of services. That event got me thinking about a seeming paradox at the heart of our lives in 2020.

We say we care about privacy. We say we’re concerned about the incursions that Big Tech companies, including Amazon, are making into our lives. And yet we continue to engage with those companies as enthusiastically as ever.

It’s a puzzle that demands an explanation. And I think we can make one, via two key 20th-century ideas about the nature of freedom and our search for the Good Life.

That’s all you need to know to begin this essay, which is called The Tyranny of Convenience.

So, hit play!

If you prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #37.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. Last week Amazon launched the Always Home Cam, an mini-drone that will fly around your house collecting footage.

Say cheese!

Thanks for reading this week.

Jeff Bezos wants us all to install a home mini-drone. But we in the New World Same Humans community are determined not to leave the next decade to the powers that be. Now, our community has grown to 12,000 and more curious souls on a mission to play their part in building the future we all deserve.

There’s one thing you can do to help make this community more useful. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment engaging, why not take a second to forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who shares our fascination with the future of truth? Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable. Just hit the share button!

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 12,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

New World Same Humans is on a mission to better understand our shared future: this much you know.

The idea sometimes strikes me, though, that two or three generations from now our descendents will look back with scorn at our attempts to think about what lay ahead. In particular, I wonder if they’ll repudiate us for not paying enough attention to the single, overriding issue that, they’ll come to believe, should have been our only real concern.

I mean global heating. We talk about it a lot, of course. But will those descendents conclude that we spent far too much time fretting about other subjects – AI overlords, driverless cars, culture wars – and not enough about the disaster unfolding in front of our eyes?

In a preemptive attempt to avoid that charge, this week’s essay is about a heated world. Specifically, about the search for justice between nations in that world. I could pretend it’s good news. But you’re far too smart for that. So, instead, I’ll tell you the truth: things may be about to get very dark.

Intrigued? Then hit play!

If you’d prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #36.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. Climate Action Tracker say that if China achieves carbon neutrality by 2060, this ‘would lower global warming projections by around 0.2 to 0.3°C, the biggest single reduction ever estimated’

2. NASA scientist James Hansen estimates between 1751 and 2006, the Global North was responsible for 77% of all carbon emissions.

3. According to Foreign Affairs magazine, the average American is responsible for the emission of as much CO2 each year as 51 Mozambicans, or 581 Burundians.

4. The International Organization for Migration says 1.5 billion people may migrate to the Global North due to climate change.

5. Georgetown University Professor Anatol Lieven says that if liberal democracies admit millions of new migrants, the resulting economic and political tensions will tear them apart

We still have a choice

Thanks for reading this week.

This week’s essay dealt with some difficult issues. But I still believe we all – that is, those of us affluent enough to read and write email newsletters – have a responsibility to to face the challenges ahead with honesty and determination.

At New World Same Humans, we’re building a community dedicated, in our own small way, to doing just that. Our community has grown to 12,000+ curious souls who believe we can work together to build a better shared future.

There’s one thing you can do to help make this community more useful. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment engaging, why not take a second to forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who shares our fascination with the future of truth and democracy? Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable. Just hit the share button!

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 12,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

Back in New World Same Humans #21, I wrote about the Four Futures framework. That instalment became the most popular NWSH email ever. So this week I revisit the method.

I’ve used the framework to create four scenarios around a NWSH obsession: the future of truth and democracy.

And this week also counts as the first ever interactive instalment, because I’ve created an online form where you can vote for the scenario you think is most likely to happen. See the ‘Let’s vote!’ section below for more.

Listen, enjoy, and don’t forget to vote! I’ll announce the results in Wednesday’s New Week Same Humans.

If you prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #35.

🗳️ Let’s vote!

You’ve listened to four scenarios on the future of truth, democracy and the online space. Now I want to know what you think!

I’ve created a simple online form so that you can tell me which of the four futures you believe is most likely to happen. I’ll reveal the results – and which scenario I think we’ll see – in Wednesday’s New Week Same Humans.

***Voting will only take five seconds, and you can vote here***

If you want to explain your choice, just hit reply and drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.

The power of now

Thanks for listening this week.

The Four Futures framework is a powerful device. As with all futures methods, though, its real power lies in the way it causes us to think with greater clarity about the world as it is now.

At New World Same Humans, we’re building a community dedicated to understanding the big trends, forces and ideas reshaping the world we live in.

There’s one thing you can do to help make this community more useful. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment engaging, why not take a second to forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who shares our fascination with the future of truth and democracy? Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable. Just hit the share button!

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 12,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

At the heart of this newsletter is the idea that if we are to understand the world we’ve built, we must look to ourselves and our shared, essential nature.

For more than three centuries a single story about that nature – about what a human being is – has predominated in the global north.

So this week, reflections on that story, how it’s shaped the world around us, and why it’s time to write a new one.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with another New Week Same Humans: news and super-fast analysis. But in the meantime find a comfortable spot, pour yourself a drink, lean back and hit play!

If you’d rather read this instalment, then go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #34.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. The philosopher Charles Taylor argues in Sources of the Self that humans can make little sense of themselves outside the context supplied by a social collective.

2. Seeing humans as glorified algorithms has impoverished our politics and other important aspects of our collective lives.

New model army

Thanks for listening this week.

Much about our world feels up in the air right now. Whatever your model of yourself, it’s enough to make anyone feel off balance.

At New World Same Humans, we’re building a community dedicated to understanding the changes we’re living through. And now, our community has grown to 12,000+ curious souls on a mission to build a better shared future.

There’s one thing you can do to help make this community more useful. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment useful, why not take a second to forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also enjoy it? Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable.

Your membership of our community is valued. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 12,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

Two weeks ago Facebook banned hundreds of accounts associated with the online conspiracy theory QAnon. Meanwhile a Republican politician who has endorsed the movement, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is almost certain to be elected to Congress this Autumn.

A number NWSH obsessions are in play here. Think the nature of power, the future of democracy, and the impacts of a connected world on our collective consciousness. So this week, reflections on all this. And on the powerful truth that I think does much to explain QAnon’s wild success.

Remember, Fast Download is the default read; go to the full essay for the details.

I’ll be back with news and super-fast analysis in Wednesday’s New Week Same Humans. But for now, just hit play!

If you prefer to read this instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #33.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. The BBC’s report on the rising QAnon phenomenon and its impact on American families.

2. A Media Matters investigation found Donald Trump retweeted or mentioned QAnon-affiliated accounts at least 216 times this year.

3. Anthropologist David Graeber famously argued that many people secretly feel their job to be a meaningless confection.

The truth is out there

Thanks for listening this week.

People embrace conspiracy theories in an attempt to make sense of a disorienting world. The impulse is universal; it’s just that they take a wrong turn.

We at New World Same Humans are taking the harder, more enlightening path. It’s our mission to really make sense of the world as it is today and will be tomorrow. And now, our community has grown to 12,000+ curious souls on a mission to understand and build a better shared future.

There’s one thing you can do to help this community serve you better. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment useful, please forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also enjoy it. Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable.

Your membership of our community is means a lot. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 12,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

Two weeks ago, a California judge delivered a pretty monumental ruling on Uber and its relationship to its drivers. So this week: reflections on the future of work.

Specifically, on why I think we might be about to see the rise of a thousand Hype House-type collectives: for accountants, journalists, designers and more. And why we could finally realise the promise of co-operative gig economy platforms.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with the second New Week Same Humans: news and super-fast analysis.

But for now, just hit play!

If you’d prefer to read this week’s instalment, go here for the text version of New World Same Humans #33.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. In the US in 1980, around 62% of national income went to workers; by 2018 that had fallen to around 56%.

2. In the UK the gig economy more than doubled in size between 2016 and 2019, and now accounts for over 4.7 million workers.

3. In August a California judge gave Uber and Lyft two weeks to reclassify drivers as employees.

4. We’ve watched (and laughed) as hip YouTube creators form collectives such as the infamous Hype House.

5. New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern recently floated the idea of a four-day work week.

6. British educationalist Ken Robinson argued that we must re-design the education of our children around the 21st-century economy’s need for creativity.

Work it

Thanks for listening this week.

The world of work is changing fast, and recentering around creativity, community and care. That shift will impact us all in the years ahead. So what to do?

New World Same Humans is a community of brilliant people, united in their mission to build a better shared future. I hope that whatever mountains you choose to climb in the years to ahead, this community will prove a useful and inspiring resource.

There’s one thing you can do to help make this community more useful to you – and to help others. That is, invite more people inside!

So if you found today’s instalment useful, please forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also enjoy it. Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable.

Your membership of our community means a lot. I’ll be back next Sunday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz

Welcome to the podcast version of New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 11,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮

This week’s essay is about a paradox. More specifically, about how contemporary industrialised societies both cultivate and erase us as individuals. I think this phenomenon helps explain peculiar features of the societies in which we live. And we’re only at the beginning.

One last thing: look out for the launch this week of the new Wednesday email. I’m designing it to be the polar opposite of the Sunday instalment. While the Sunday email is a deep read (or listen!), Wednesday’s will be snippets of news along with fast analysis on underlying principles and trends that you can put to work.

I’m thinking of calling the mid-week instalment New Week Same Humans. But by Wednesday I may have changed my mind. If you either love or hate this title, now is your chance to tell me. You know where I am.

Okay, just hit play! And if you’d rather read this instalment, check out the text version of New World Same Humans #31.

Links in this week’s instalment

1. In Civilisation and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud argued that an irreconcilable tension sits at the heart of civilised life.

2. The Austrian thinker Leopold Kohr has been rediscovered in recent years.

Let’s dance

Thanks for listening this week.

Individuals may feel insignificant in the context of a the unified global system we now live in. But we have an antidote. New World Same Humans is a community of brilliant people, united in their mission to build a better shared future. That community is now 11,000 strong and counting. And every member is seen.

There’s one thing you can do to help. Invite more people to the dance!

So if you found today’s instalment useful, please forward this email to one person – a friend, family member or colleague – who’d also enjoy it. Or share New World Same Humans across one of your social networks, and let people know why you find this newsletter valuable.

Your membership of our community means a lot. I’ll be back next Sunday; until then, be well.

David.

David Mattin sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newworldsamehumans.xyz