by Peter Knight | Apr 22, 2020 | Blog
Credit: SophieB
If you thought Covid-19 gave a Green Deal recovery package − green infrastructure, green jobs − an easy glide path, think again.
For those celebrating this month’s launch of the GreenRecovery alliance to promote “a new model of prosperity” based on sustainability, it would be wise to hold the champagne.
Those who fear statism as a consequence of the current blooming of big government see an opportunity to use the fear of job losses and threat of widespread poverty to promote their deregulation agenda to undermine any green deal.
Big business backing
The alliance, led by Pascal Canfin, a liberal French MEP who chairs the European Parliament’s committee on environment, is supported by businesses such as AB InBev, H&M Group, IKEA, Lego, L’Oreal, Microsoft and Suez.
Canfin argues that the “political will is here” for a green recovery. But he would be the first to admit that there’s plenty of politics working in the opposite direction. We see it in the USA with the castration of the EPA, and we’re hearing it now in the UK from the same charmers who brought us Brexit.
Their arguments are neatly summed up by one of their cheerleaders, Daniel Hannan, writing in what Trump would call the UK’s “failing Daily Telegraph”.
Asks Hannan: “When a million more people are on the dole, does anyone think it will be a priority to publish gender pay gaps?” He goes on to argue that it would be foolish to keep industry to tight carbon targets touted before the lockdown because the extra costs would suppress a recovery.
He’s right that economic priorities before Covid-19 will be very different in its aftermath. Getting food on the plate will be more important than worrying about chlorine washed chickens.
Hope for the long-term
Hannan and his fellow ideologues will press for a return to the argument that a strong economy is needed before we can afford to protect nature. It’s a powerful argument and has worked well in the past. But maybe, just maybe, the collective experience of the pandemic will inject a bit of long-term thinking and allow us to see how our dependence on nature underpins healthy, resilient economies.
The GreenRecovery will only happen with strong political leadership, currently as rare as an approved face mask. We need leaders who can manage the pandemic while tackling the long-term threat of climate change.
It’s a lot to ask, but such leadership is necessary if the so-called “culture wars” between the left and right that now define western politics are going to be put aside for the broader benefits of society.
This looks highly unlikely, given the inability of the EU to formulate a collective response to reduce the economic pain felt by members of its community, such as Italy and Spain.
But here’s an idle thought. Perhaps Boris Johnson’s brush with death will give him the cajones to lead us all to the promised green land.
by Peter Knight | Oct 10, 2016 | Blog
Toyota is planning to sell a little robot that behaves like a young child and looks like a cross between a mutant ninja turtle and a short-sighted toddler. So cute!
The $400 palm-sized Kirobo Mini is bright enough to learn casual conversations – “are we there yet?” – and is designed to be your little companion, presumably on long drives.
This anthropomorphic contraption will do a lot to improve the public image of artificial intelligence (AI), something that is troubling the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft who see AI as the next source of megabucks.
False starts
After many false starts and failed promises, AI has come of age and is sizzling hot right now. The offshoot of the company that devised Apple’s Siri service has just been bought by Samsung. This week Google launched its learning speaker, called Home, which joins Echo, the successful Amazon personal assistant.
These gadgets are designed as personal or home assistants, helping control household equipment and answering everyday questions from the family. More important, they remember your habits and learn to understand your domestic needs.
With the rapid development of driverless cars and a slew of industrial AI applications, the long-promised benefits of AI are about to be delivered. Our lives will become easier and less tedious as repetitive tasks are done by the offspring of Toyota’s Kirobo.
Professions that depend on retentive memories, like medicine and the law, will be severely disrupted with automated, learning systems providing quicker and cheaper alternatives to clever people. And of course, ever-more intelligent industrial robots will eliminate even more factory jobs.
Worried people
Understandably, this has got a lot of people worried. AI will steal jobs. Computers will control our lives. And may even disobey their masters. All of this has been predicted by dystopian science fiction writers. Now, those who are set to benefit most from the technology – the software makers and service providers – are worried they will be held back by an anxious public and jumpy politicians restricting the growth of AI.
That’s why Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Apple and others have formed the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society (PAIBPS). Not a very intelligent mouthful, but at least it’s clear what the organisation wants to do. Its tasks will include researching public attitudes and devising strategies to allay fears.
Although PAIBPS has a whiff of Monsanto about it, its founding is good news for AI and our future. If Monsanto had been more open about its technology and business intentions, we could all be benefiting from the good things about genetic modification, instead of battling with Luddite policy makers reflecting a suspicious electorate.
If PAIBPS wants to become a learning organisation it could do no better than chat to the people at Toyota who know how to make AI cute. Go Kirobo.
