S06E03 of Connection Problem: The pressure cooker of a global crisis
A cab driver taking a break at the near-abandoned Berlin Tegel airport
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Hi there,
As I try to ease this newsletter back into a regular rhythm, thank you for all the nice notes and replies. Much appreciated!
I hope you’re all doing well, wherever you’re sheltering — be it the busiest, the most productive, most stressful or most relaxed time you’ve had in a long time. Judging by our conversations, all of these cases can apply.
Speaking of different ways of dealing with this ongoing unusual situation: Berlin's Tegel Airport is now closing pretty suddenly (after a 9 year delay) and the "new" BER airport scheduled for a (now somewhat credible) October opening. So we cycled out there to take some pictures. First of all, you can cycle to that airport on near perfect road lanes, which blew my mind. It's only a little slower than a cab, and about as long as it takes via public transport. The main building, Terminal A, which everyone associates with the word Tegel, is already closed, alas, with friendly guards answering (clearly for the 1000th time) that no, even for pictures thou shall not pass. But the atmosphere around this near-but-not-quite abandoned airport is something to behold. It's as if time has, if not stopped, then at least slowed down to a crawl. (To little K's delight, we did end up seeing one take-off as well as a landing of a tiny private plane, so he also got his share of excitement out of the trip.)
On that note, wherever you are, stay safe out there.
P.
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If you'd like to work with me or bounce ideas, let's have a chat.
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Project updates
The (remote) block seminar about tech ethics & trust at Hochschule Darmstadt went well, I think, and was enjoyable as usual. The PhD supervision for the OpenDoTT program is ongoing, and will be for another couple of years.
In June, I’ll start a first round of evaluating NGI Atlantic proposals, which should be interesting.
And I’m excited to announce a new video series I’ve been working on with Körber Stiftung, specifically with their democracy program. The series is about to launch (might be another couple of days of another couple of weeks, but it’s soon). We call it Corona Crisis — Lessons for the Future of Cities and it’s about how different cities respond to the coronavirus crisis (My blog post here):
We’ll talk to local leaders about their specific, local challenges, opportunities and strategies: While some strategies are universal, like washing hands and keeping a safe distance, others are more tailored to the local context. And those strategies are what we want to learn about, so others can learn from them, too.
And while overall we’re pretty broad with our interest in this, there are two focus areas that we’ll be emphasizing: The use of digital tools (and the trade-offs that inform the decisions around them) as well as how engagement with civil society works.
We’re also preparing a roundtable on AI & Society hosted by HiiG’s AI & Society Lab and the European Commission’s Berlin office, currently scheduled for August.
The Berlin Institute for Smart Cities and Citizen Rights (BISC) is also evolving nicely, if a little slower due to global circumstances. We did, however, get around to writing up some reflections on Sidewalk Labs’ announcement to pull the plug on their Toronto Quayside plans.
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Accelerating Change
The coronavirus crisis serves as a giant pressure cooker for change (political, social, economic…) that has immediate impact, but also tons of long term impact. And as always, with change comes opportunity and risk alike. Many a dissertation will be written about this period of time.
Now is the time for dreaming big: Over at The Engine Room, Zara Rahmann writes about challenges and opportunities that civil society faces especially in the realm of data protection:
Our new reality means that there is more support for people-and community-focused policies, as our imaginations open to the possibility of a new system that lays strong, resilient foundations. Civil society–what do we want to do with this? Now is the time for dreaming big, and focusing not on what seems realistic given the constraints we thought we faced, but what is necessary–for climate justice, for social justice, to ensure better qualities of life for all, not just the most privileged.
Point in case: China Wants to Use Its Coronavirus App to Track How Much Its Citizens Sleep, Drink, and Smoke (VICE). File this one under mission drift or under political cover, or maybe both.
Fit for the future: Can we emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis? At the Alliance for philanthropy and social investment worldwide (yes, a mouthful, but a very descriptive one), a call to arms not to stand idly by but to double down on support for civil society, especially in the global South:
A statement to world leaders supported by over 600 organisations underscores the urgent need to act together to stop governments from using the pandemic as a pretext to restrict civic space. Even where an official proclamation of emergency has been made, fundamental rights such as the right to life and freedom from torture and degrading treatment must still be upheld. This must be accompanied by a systematic effort to design and effect a comprehensive global recovery effort. For civil society specifically, we need to see more direct investment in organisations of the global south.
The Drones Were Ready for This Moment (NYTimes): Interesting angle, and another example that the coronavirus crisis has the side effect of being an intense accelerator of change in many, many places.
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Miscellanea
The (translated) Manifesto of the Japanese Futurist Movement, published in 1921 — so almost exactly 100 years ago — certainly was a product of its time. It didn’t age particularly wel but put in historical context it certainly the radical departure from the lived experience of the time it intended to be. Now, it reads oddly like a mix of performance art and a 2010 startup manifesto (highlights mine):
Intuition should be substituted for knowledge; the enemy of Futurism’s anti-art is the concept. “ Time and space have already died, and we already live in the absolute.” We must quickly volunteer ourselves, dash forward blindly, and create. All that remains is simply the active energy of humanness that attempts to feel directly a supreme rhythm (god’s instinct) in the chaos before one’s eyes.
A Poetic Journey Through Western China (NYTimes). The New York Times travel section has been on a roll throughout this whole pandemic, but this is gorgeous. I mean, just look at these photos. Just stunning.
‘It Feels Like We Got the City Back for Ourselves.’ (Also NYTimes.) Interviews with residents of the most touristy cities around the globe. Quite something. I love the way they’re mostly like “well yeah it’s weird but also fun for a bit to see our city with fresh eyes for once.” This also led me to this claim (which I didn’t verify) that the concept of quarantine itself was first established in Dubrovnik in 1377.
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If you’d like to work with me or have a chat to explore collaborations, let’s chat!
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Currently reading: The Broken Earth trilogy, N.K. Jemisin.
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What's next?
More on all the projects listed at the top, mostly. Anything interesting you’d like to explore, hit me up!
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Who writes here? Peter Bihr explores how emerging technologies can have a positive social impact. At the core of his work is the mission to align emerging technologies and citizen empowerment. To do this, he works at the intersection of technology, governance, policy and social impact — with foundations, public and private sector. He is the founder of The Waving Cat, a boutique research and strategic advisory firm. He co-founded ThingsCon, a non-profit that explores fair, responsible, and human-centric technologies for IoT and beyond. Peter was a Mozilla Fellow (2018-19) and an Edgeryders Fellow (2019). He tweets at @peterbihr and blogs at thewavingcat.com. Interested in working together? Let’s have a chat.
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