Technology for being better at being human

Roland at NESTA highlights this great 10 min video of what happened at SiCamp

I think this gets across how SiCamp managed to get geeks and non-geeks together, and how much energy is created by people working on things with a higher purpose that they care about. It also says something about what makes me excited about the Web: not the technology, but how technology allows us to be better at being human.

Kudos to NESTA and many other good folks for sponsoring this. (Disclosure: NESTA are a client of mine)

Evil Twin visits America

I see my evil twin brother Matt is on tour in the US, as follows. If you live in these places, I heartily recommend meeting him.

Washington from May 9th to 11th.
Chicago from May 12th to 14th.
Boston from May 15th to 17th.
Toronto from May 18th to 20th.
Detroit from May 21st to 22nd.
New York from May 23rd to 27th.
Seattle from May 26th to 29th.
San Francisco from May 29th to 31st.
Los Angeles from June 1st to 2nd.

Brutality and civilisation

I saw a documentary last night on the Beeb about the middle ages. Prof Robert Bartlett talked about how power structures changed over five centuries. It was a reminder of just how brutal power was then, and how oppressed the masses were. Brutality for minor offences was commonplace.

It reminded me of the opening of the Old Bailey archives last month. They included the case of a 13 year old boy hanged for stealing a sheep - here in England, less than two centuries ago.

Blimey. As a species, we have come a very long way in a short space of evolutionary time. It's an interesting sidelight on our response to other countries that today fall short on human rights. In a sense, they're only a few generations behind us in their cultural development although that's no reason to feel anything but revulsion at torture and abuse. (And deep concern at any attempts to legitimise them in countries that ought to know better.)

What times we live in. In some ways, human life on this planet seems so endangered; and on the other hand it seems as though we've made extraordinary leaps in the way we think of and value each other as human beings.

Illusion

I'm fascinated by visual illusions. They challenge our everyday notion that the world is as we see it. Richard Dawkins has a great chapter in Unweaving the Rainbow which explores how our mind processes visual data to manage what we see. He suggests that in one sense we already live in a kind of virtual reality.

So this new blog is worth a look: Illusion Sciences

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan

Ah, powerpoint...

James told me about this at lunch today. Enjoy.

Chris Corrigan on living systems

Rob and I did our latest Phoric podcast with Chris Corrigan, who was pretty awesome. Chris never fails to provoke and engage and his choice of videos was fascinating.

The first features a guy who learnt how to move huge stones using small ones. He shows how, on his own, he can move a one-ton block 300 feet per hour. Then he shows how he can move a whole barn using the same principles or lift a massive block up high. Remarkable. As I say to Chris in our chat, it rehabilitates the whole of idea of leverage in organisations.

He says that "gravity is my favourite tool" and I love the notion of using the least effort to achieve a result. What a great video - I'd think of showing it to a group of people trying to tackle a challenge as a bit of inspiration.

Chris other choices are equally engaging, and if you listen to the podcast, see if you get as seduced by Chris' worldview as I always do.

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Top?

So another of those lists of the world's top brands is out. Meanwhile, Roland notes with scepticism a new list of the "most innovative" companies.

As Roland says

Over 40m US citizens are self employed 'free agents' and 20% of UK workforce will soon be working from home. Whilst the UK would surely benefit from more brands that act as hubs in the global economy, there are many examples of small companies or even individuals who act as powerful nodes which can be more agile, responsive and dare I say it, innovative.

Understated benefits of blogging et al

Euan thought this was good and so do I: 5 Social Computing Benefits that Adoption Rates Don't Show