Memia 2020.46: 2020 wrapupš// an underlying thesis?š// top 10 themes from a year of tumultuous changešš„š¤Æ // quantum teleportationāļø// a refreshing appointmentš
The robot made me do itš¤
Kia ora,
Welcome to this yearās final Memia scan across emerging tech, global change and the unfolding future, viewed from Aotearoa New Zealand.
The most clicked link in the last issue (~9% of openers) was the mesmerising competitive precision walking from Japanš¶š¶š¶.
***To all in the UK, US and everywhere else suffering from the relentless onslaught of Covid-19 over Xmas: kia kaha from Aotearoa New Zealand, hang in there until the vaccines get widely deployed⦠hopefully we can look forward to infection rates gradually reducing and restrictions starting to lift in 2021.***
2020 wrapupš
As 2020 hurtles towards its overdue conclusion, Iāve compiled a wrapup of the highlights and overarching themes from 46 āļøemoji-filledš Memia newsletters this year. Itās a big post - longer than can be sent in an email - so Iāve summarised below and you can read the whole article online here.
An underlying thesis?š
Writing the weekly Memia newsletter is mostly an exercise in continuous discovery, drinking from a firehose of change trying to figure out whatās actually going onā¦and what might happen next. If an underlying thesis has emerged for Memiaās writing over the course of 2020, it goes something like this:
Technology changes the world: Rapidly advancing technology is among the main drivers of modern global change - on individual, societal, political and economic levels.
Try to keep up: technology is moving so fast you need to run just to stay still.
New frameworks needed: Legacy conceptual frameworks of society, politics and economics struggle to accommodate the potential of new technologies to transform, or provide a working model of how technology effects change.
Techno-optimism warranted*: In many cases new technology itself provides opportunities to address myriad challenges facing humanity - but, for whatever reasons, most commentary generally lacks imagination as to what is possibleā¦and instead tends to focus on negative outcomes/preserving the status quo.
(*ā¦Yes obviously all new technology comes with risks and dangersā¦but these get enough airtime already *IMO*ā¦so Memiaās āregular weekly scan of emerging tech and the unfolding futureā mostly takes an optimistic spin, imagining the positive possible.)
2020: Top ten themes from a year of tumultuous changešš„š¤Æ
That said, most of the top ten themes from 2020 donāt revolve around technology. Go figure.š¤
Below my roundup of the year:
š¦ The pandemic and a new age of scientific enlightenment
šClimate change: the next tsunami
šøFinancial system externalities finally visible
š³ļøFragile but resilient democracy
š¦Clogged globalisation driving localised resilience
šWork from (virtually) anywhere
š”Scientific discovery and technological innovation
šHumanityās place in the cosmos
šAotearoaās changing place in the world
šHidden gems everywhere
Read the whole post here: Memia 2020 wrapup: Top 10 themes from a year of tumultuous changešš„š¤Æ.
[Weak] signals
A few recent developments to finish the year:
Accentureās Fjord Emerging Trends for Business 2021 is worth a read: the over-arching theme is mapping out the new territory:
Facebook is making noise about Appleās moves to switch off App tracking by default in the name of privacy: Apple are wielding their platform power hereā¦not sure thereās much FB can do about it?
(āFacebookā š¤£)
Who said space travel was going to be easy? The ISS is leaking atmosphereā¦
āļøSustained, high quality quantum teleportation - which would enable a high speed āquantum internetā - has been achieved for the first time.
Informative summary article on Synbio in Nature: Synthetic biology 2020ā2030: six commercially-available products that are changing our world.
Tasmania hits 100% renewable energy:
⦠while South Australia reached 60%.
And āThe Robot Made Me Do Itāš¤:
Mind expanding
In advance of the postponed 2021 release of Denis Villeneuveās new Dune movie, fans of Frank Herbertās 50-years-old sci-fi saga may be interested in this new Dune graphic novel:
Still trying to get my head around this story in NewScientist ($paywalled):
And perhaps fittingly, if youāre enjoying Memia then you may also like to try the new beta of Substack Reader - manage all your favouring Substack feeds in one view and discover new feeds. Kiwi co-founder of Substack Hamish McKenzie is currently building this working from AoNZ cafesā.
Also, Substack CEO Chris Best is interviewed in depth by The Vergeās Nilay Patel on How the newsletter startup could build a new model for journalism and disrupt the media industry. Good, long read.
Rollcall
Congratulations to veteran economist Dr Ganesh Nana who is leaving BERL after 20 years to take up the Chairman role at the AoNZ Productivity Commission. A refreshing appointment.š


He says in a personal statement on leaving BERL:
āContributing to a transformation of the economic model and narrative towards one that values people and prioritises our role as kaitiaki o taonga is my kaupapa.ā
Hidden gems
Two final gems before year end:
This popped up in my Youtube feed from 1979: trying out an early mobile phone prototype 41 years ago!
And perhaps the most entertaining deepfake clip in a while:
ā¦Itās a wrap!
ššš Thank you for subscribing to Memia during 2020. Iām looking forward to another year of weekly newsletters in 2021, together with some new community development initiatives (more on this in the New Year). As flagged last week, the newsletter will continue to be free-to-air in 2021 - but if youāve valued Memia posts in 2020, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription, it does help me to put more time in to research and writing:
Iām taking a few weeks off with family to recharge my batteries over the Aotearoa summer after an intense year. I will be visiting my happy place, Marahau in Abel Tasman national park enjoying some long windy walks along the beach at low tide:
Wishing you a relaxing and restorative holiday break wherever you are and Memia will be back in January!
NgÄ Mihi
Ben
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