Graphene, microsensors, supercapacitors, and other innovations promise to weave tech into the fabric of our lives. It was only in 2004 that a method for producing sheets of graphene, at least on purpose, was first […]
arketyp. News Feed
Digital, tech & innovation narratives curated from across the web
The Next Generation Organisation
What are the minimum of next generation behaviours that modern firms should be either exhibiting or striving for? Throughout history, the industrialization of technology has led to new practices and behaviours within organizations. What matters […]
The Intersection
Set in the near future, the film “the Intersection” journeys from a violent present to a cooperative future. Telling stories of active hope from those who have fought to reimagine extractive technology, to serve community, […]
What if Central Banks issued Digital Currency?
What would happen if central banks started to issue digital currency directly? An idea that China and other countries are currently exploring. The impetus for more radical change is coming from China, whose central bank […]
How Scientists Learned to Enter People’s Dreams
Psychologists have found a way to communicate with lucid dreamers – people who can take control of their dreams – in the hope that they might help us explore what goes on with our brains […]
The Death and Birth of Technological Revolutions
What was especially remarkable about Carlota Perez’s Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital was its timing: 2002 was the middle of the cold winter that followed the Dotcom Bubble, and here was Perez arguing that the […]
Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change?
Amid an escalating environmental crisis, nuclear fusion offers a dream — or a pipe dream — of limitless clean energy. Let’s say that you’ve devoted your entire adult life to developing a carbon-free way to […]
China marches on towards 4th Industrial Revolution
Pundit predictions of China’s demise are the latest self-consoling illusions of a lazy elite who can’t see the AI writing on the wall. A generation from now, the Chinese won’t remember the misery of Ant […]
The UK’s Startup Founders are Way Too Posh
Coming from money makes it easier to make money, but a lack of financial diversity among founders could be holding back British tech. “We’re looking for whatever correlates with success — it’s not obvious to […]
Facebook to Launch Digital Wallet Novi
Novi was formerly known as Calibra and the Diem digital currency was initially called Libra. Novi is a digital wallet that will be linked to the Diem payment system to store and transact using digital […]
Facebook Spending $50M to ‘Responsibly’ Build the Metaverse
Facebook wants people to think it is a responsible platform owner. Facebook has announced a $50 million fund that it says will help it develop the metaverse more responsibly. It’s officially called the XR Programs […]
Epic Games Blueprint to Fix the Internet
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and other executives detail their plan for the metaverse and how it differs from Facebook’s vision. The simplest way to define the metaverse is as an evolution of how users interact […]
China Becomes a Laboratory for the Regulation of Tech
The Chinese Communist Party is reminding internet billionaires who is boss. Kendra Schaefer of Trivium, a consultancy in Beijing, has written that the publication of these new algorithm regulations marks the moment when Chinese tech […]
Chinese Regulators are Serious about Crypto Ban
On Sept. 24 Chinese authorities said Crypto transactions in China are banned and they will root out mining of digital assets. “While this is not a surprise as China has ‘banned’ crypto many times in […]
The FDA Should Regulate Instagram’s Algorithm as a Drug
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported Silicon Valley’s worst-kept secret: Instagram harms teens’ mental health; in fact, its impact is so negative that it introduces suicidal thoughts. Thirty-two percent of teen girls who feel […]
The Facebook Files
Time and again, documents show, Facebook’s researchers have identified the platform’s ill effects. Time and again, despite congressional hearings, its own pledges and numerous media exposés, the company didn’t fix them. Facebook made a heralded […]
All Possible Views about Humanity’s Future are Wild
Holden Karnofsky argues that it’s “wild” to think we’re assured of never spreading throughout the galaxy, but also that it’s “wild” to think that we have a decent chance of spreading throughout the galaxy. In […]
China Plans ‘Ultra-Large Spacecraft’ Spanning Miles
The National Natural Science Foundation of China has called on scientists to join a five-year project to study the mechanics of an “ultra-large spacecraft spanning kilometres”. “[Such a spacecraft] is a major strategic aerospace equipment […]
South Africa Grants a Patent to an AI system
Much to the surprise of the global community, South Africa’s patent office granted a patent to an AI, recognising DABUS as an inventor. At first glance, a recently granted South African patent relating to a […]
Why I’m a Proud Solutionist
History teaches us how to be brutally honest about a problem and yet optimistic for a technological solution. Debates about technology and progress are often framed in terms of “optimism” vs. “pessimism.” For instance, Steven […]
The Problem With Media
The problem with journalism is the ongoing economic instability, not blue checks with melding opinions. The two, though, can bleed into one another. When the news industry becomes populated by highly-educated people who live in […]
What’s Next for Lab-Grown Human Embryos?
Researchers are now permitted to grow human embryos in the lab for longer than 14 days. Here’s what they could learn. In May, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) released new guidelines1 that […]
The Wizard and the Prophet
How to save humanity? Opposing grand approaches emerged from two remarkable scientists in the mid-20th century who fought each other their entire lives. Their solutions were so persuasive that their impassioned argument continues 70 years […]
Finding Virtue in the Virtual
One of humanity’s most important undertakings when it comes to technology is to resist and reject its ill-considered implementations. From facial recognition systems to the normalisation of ubiquitous surveillance, from autonomous weapons to weaponised social […]
Venture Funds Pour into China’s Hardware Startups
China’s hardware startups are getting more venture capital funding this year, helped by Beijing’s effort to drive investments in strategically important technology as well as its crackdown on the internet sector. Venture firms pumped $5.4 […]
China’s EdTech Giants Adapt to New Realities
China’s largest private education firms are moving swiftly to overhaul their businesses to adjust to a harsh new reality after Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown on the $100 billion sector. Two of the sector’s biggest […]
China Reigns in Private Tutoring Companies
Chinese regulators barred tutoring companies from making profits, as Beijing turns its focus to the growing financial burden that students — and their parents — face. Some of China’s biggest publicly listed education companies lost […]
Xi Cracks Down on China’s Education Sector
A fight for ideological control and concerns about social pressures underpin effort. Since news of drastic new restrictions on tutoring companies leaked on Friday — and were confirmed at the weekend — the share prices […]
What Tech does China Want?
In a decade or so China will, if the Communist Party has its way, become a techno-utopia with Chinese characteristics, replete with “deep tech” such as cloud-computing, AI, self-driving cars and home-made cutting-edge chips. Incumbent […]
China Passes New Privacy Law
China has passed a new privacy law aimed at protecting users’ personal data, state media reported. The new law comes as Chinese tech firms have come under renewed scrutiny in the country, and sets rules […]